Maikka Week 2012: Trapped in Ba Sing Se
by Loopy777
Summary: This is an AU to Book 2's finale, wherein Sokka is left behind in Ba Sing Se to help plan the Invasion. Disguised as a Kyoshi Warrior, Mai is dispatched to deal with him. The proverbial hilarity ensues, along with action, intrigue, angst, and custard tarts!
1. Long Distance

**Long Distance**

_"Well," Aang chirped, "if I'm going to the Eastern Air Temple, Appa and I can drop you at Chameleon Bay to see your dad."_

_Standing and looking down at his friends, Sokka's expression turned glum. "Someone has to stay here with the Earth King and help him plan for the invasion. I guess that's me."_

_His sister couldn't meet his gaze. "I'm sorry. I need to talk some things over with Dad, but I promise, we'll find a way for you to see him. Soon."_

_Sokka reached down, grabbed her arm, and lightly pulled Katara up to her feet beside him. "You manage that," he said, "and I'll officially declare you the nicest sister ever." He looked around the dark, opulent parlor, one of many scattered through out the Earth King's village-sized Forbidden Palace. "Who knows, maybe I'll find something to occupy me, here."_

* * *

The morning dawned bright and clear outside the Earth King's palace, caressed by a gentle breeze. It was the first morning of the rest of their lives, a turning point in the struggle that had defined an entire era. It was the kind of morning that painters loved, partially because blue skies and a few fluffy clouds were the first thing that most painters learned to actually paint, but also because this morning boasted the presence of real heroes! Heroes brave and true, all, never mind that only one of them looked old enough to go on adult hunting trips. That just made their accomplishments all the more impressive, didn't it? And Sokka even had to shave, now, so there was no doubt about his maturity. (Never mind that Aang technically shaved, too; the top of his head didn't count.)

Yes, it was a true Heroes' Morn! "Isn't it perfect, Toph? All we need is a King to give a grand goodbye to you guys, and then I'm off to the base at the Inner Wall to plan out The Invasion. _My _The Invasion. This is, like, completely epic."

The Earthbender shrugged in Sokka's direction. "If you say so."

Sokka glanced over at her. "What, am I missing something? I mean, technically you're only journeying to your mom's house in the Upper Ring, but I've been waiting for your subplot to resolve itself for a while now. Trust me, the timing is perfect for a Heroes' Morn!"

Toph did that disconcerting thing where she stared in the wrong direction, smirked, and said, "Don't call my life a subplot, unless you want to be the comic relief sidekick. And you should probably be more concerned with Aang and Katara doing a little subplot-resolving behind your back right now. With their tongues."

Sokka turned around to where Appa was waiting. Last he saw them, Katara was killing time, petting Appa, while Aang was making his standard goo-goo eyes at her from a distance, and now- "Oh, _ew_!" Aang and Katara immediately broke their kiss, blushing, but Sokka shook his head at them. "I should have gone with my first impulse and picked on Aang before anything else. Listen, guys," he beseeched, "I understand that emotions are running high this morning, but please don't gross me out like this on my big day! I'm supposed to plan an Invasion later, and need my stomach not be all queasy."

Katara's face only got more crimson, but she stepped towards Sokka with her fists clenched. "Hey, I didn't say anything when you had us all waiting on the trail outside the city while you kissed Suki!"

"Suki and I are grown-up professionals!"

"What does that even mean!"

"Um, is this a good time to say goodbye?" the Earth King said as he walked over.

Sokka and Katara held each other's glare for one more moment, then relaxed and turned to smile at the monarch as one. "It's a great time," Katara said, her voice light.

The Earth King blinked once, then cleared his throat and stood up straighter. "Aang, Sokka, Katara, and Toph, I wish you good journey. Ba Sing Se owes you its thanks, and we look forward to your return." The group bowed together, and before Sokka could lift his head again to nip this whole Aang-and-Katara-going-on-a-kisser's-only-kissy-trip, a guard ran up behind the Earth King.

"Your Majesty! There are three female warriors here to see you, they're from the island of Kyoshi."

Well, speak of kissy-kissy vacations! Instead of rising out of his bow, Sokka somehow wound up sprawled on the ground. "_That's Suki!_"

* * *

Disguised as the Kyoshi Warriors, Azula (Dread Princess of Fire), Mai (Lady of Ten Thousand Hidden Knives), and Ty Lee (Just Ty Lee, Cutie) marched through the gate of the Forbidden Palace and succeeded in keeping evil smirks off their faces. For Mai, this wasn't a particularly hard task, since she didn't make much use of her face anyway, but the knife-thrower had to admit to being impressed that Ty Lee wasn't giggling like a loon over the deception. Azula was, of course, a much more controlled personality, but this was still just the kind of situation that would have prompted her to give a megalomaniacal laugh or two. Mai nominally supported the Fire Nation's whole Glorious March of Civilization thing and cared little for the so-called 'people' of the Earth Kingdom, but she still couldn't deny that Azula had a definite Evil vibe going.

Come to think of it, Mai probably came across as kind of Evil, too, what with the knives and her unique sense of fashion. The thought threatened to put a smile on her gaudily painted face.

The guards just beyond the gate all bowed to the three fake Kyoshi Warriors. "The Earth King offers shelter to your party," one said, "and will formerly greet you with the Honored Subjects' Welcome at the steps of the palace."

Azula nodded her head respectfully. Dressed as this awful costume, Mai didn't think it looked quite as regal as the Princess usually managed, but it wasn't bad. "We accept his hospitality with honor and gratitude," she said evenly.

Then the guard, a man with a horrifyingly thick mustache, rose and winked at the disguised Princess. "Just between you and me, the Earth King isn't the only one looking forward to seeing you. A young Water Tribe man named Sokka vouched for you girls, and was really excited to hear that 'Suki' was coming to visit."

Sokka? Sokka. That sounded familiar. Azula let a small, very fake smile grace her lips, and said, "Oh really? Where is he, now?"

The guard smiled back. "Only members of the Earth Kingdom are allowed to attend the Honored Subjects' Welcome, and he's meeting with the Council of Five after that, but he said to tell you that he's looking forward to _catching up _with you later outside the Palace."

Azula's hiss was soft enough that only Mai and Ty Lee could hear. "_Dragon droppings._" Mai resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow. Such language, from the Crown Princess! There might be hope for Azula, yet. Although, it was definitely trouble that there would be someone around who could see through their disguises. Who was this Sokka, that he knew the Kyoshi Kaptives so well?

At a signal from another set of guards, the three infiltrators began the short march to the Forbidden Palace. Azula kept her face still as she whispered just loud enough for Mai and Ty Lee to hear as they walked. "This is a wrinkle in our plan, but we can deal with this."

"We have a plan?" Mai whispered back, appalled. "I thought we were just making it all up as we went."

Ty Lee gave a small smile as she spoke in her own subdued voice. "It's okay, I can handle this. I'll keep Sokka out of our way for as long as you need. Um, Sokka is the cute guy in blue, right?"

Oh, _that _was his name! Mai was never particularly good with faces, but she had a fine memory for people who were fast and coordinated enough to bat her flying razor discs out of the air with a club. (Not that it was hard, with only one person currently in that exclusive club.)

Azula's eyes narrowed. "Normally, that wouldn't be a bad idea, Ty Lee. However, it hasn't escaped my notice that you've... drawn this Sokka's attention to yourself at various points during our encounters."

"It's okay," Mai said, "you can call it 'shameless flirting.' I do."

"Regardless, it's far too likely that this Sokka will recognize her, and we can't count on being able to dispose of a body within the palace. We'll need another way of distracting him from meeting with me. Or Ty Lee."

It took Mai a long moment to realize which one of their trio hadn't been mentioned in that statement, but before she could answer, Azula whispered, "Don't worry, Mai. When you're not holding a knife of some kind, you're completely unmemorable. You'll be fine. Just lure him away and deal with him."

Then they were at the palace, walking between lines of an honor guard, and a bespectacled man in a big hat began giving a speech. "In our hour of need, it is with the highest honor that I welcome our esteemed allies, the Kyoshi warriors!"

* * *

You didn't join the Dai Li if you didn't like watching people. That was the main thing. Sure, it sometimes involved lurking in shadows, suppressing important information, and making enemy spies and wreckers disappear, but mostly the day-to-day stuff consisted of watching people. Listening, too, occasionally, if the boss wanted to know what they knew.

Sometimes, though, Agent Zhuang listened just to keep from getting bored.

He had rotated to observational duty on the Avatar's group, but with most of them traveling out of the city, that just left him in charge of the goofy guy with the ponytail. (He had also been in charge of the Bei Fong girl, but she was suddenly taking an enforced vacation in a metal box, and word came down not to interfere.) Watching the Water Tribe guy was the height of uselessness, because he was just meeting with the Council of Five anyway, and all the Generals had Watchers of their own when inside the city proper.

At least, though, Ponytail Guy had a sense of humor. And his lemur was really cute.

"So I said to him, 'That's called Sokka Style- _learn it!_' And then Aang flew us out of there. The giant owl probably would have caught us, even then, but it looked to me like he was trying to fly with a concussion. I _did _clobber him with a pretty big book. I think it was called 'The Complete History of the Spear,' but I didn't get a chance to read it. Know if it's any good?"

Sitting next to Sokka on the train was General How, and he didn't look as amused as Agent Zhuang did with the Water Tribe guy's anecdotes. The general was probably still sore from when Sokka asked how he could be the Earth King's personal military advisor for years and never mention the War.

Yup, it was an amusing enough assignment. When Sokka's lemur turned to look right in Zhuang's direction, the Dai Li agent waved at it cheerfully from his hiding spot across the train car.

* * *

After the supposedly Earth Kingdomites-only Big Hello Ceremony, Azula and Ty Lee were given an audience with the Earth King himself, while Mai was dispatched on her special mission. She didn't know what excuse Azula made to get her out of the event, but at least she could rest assured that the Princess was too proper to make it something gross. Mai made her way back out of the palace complex, stopping when she spotted the guard with the brushy mustache from before. "Excuse me, sir, I'm supposed to deliver an important message to Sokka Water Tribe. Can you direct me to his meeting?"

"Oh, sure," the guard said, "he's supposed to be with the Council of Five at the Central Military Center."

Mai nodded. Central Military Center. More proof that the Earth Kingdom truly had no culture worth speaking of. "And where is the Center?"

"District 16 in the Lower Ring, right up against the wall. The neighborhood isn't the greatest, but once you get within the Center's walls you'll be fine."

"Wait, the Lower Ring?" Mai blinked. "I have to go all the way back there?"

The guard nodded. "They had to set up there in case The General of the Wall ever had to get back out to the Outer Wall in a hurry. Er, if you still have a train ticket dated today, they'll give you a discount when you buy the next one."

* * *

Agent Laotao of the Dai Li wasn't to sure about this assignment to spy on the Kyoshi Warriors. Sure, he had plenty of experience with observational duty; every Dai Li agent did. However, all of Laotao's previous assignments had been... well, of the male persuasion. At what point did it become a problem to keep watching a girl? Ten steps from the bathroom? Whenever she was in her room? Couldn't that be exploited to hide things from the Dai Li? And what about vantage points? If a female subject was wearing a certain kind of dress, watching her from high or low vantage points would be completely improper. There really should have been specific training on this subject.

It didn't help that Laotao was currently watching the Scary One. The other two Kyoshi Warriors were having an audience with the Earth King, and word was he would be asking them to serve as an Honor Guard during their stay in Ba Sing Se, so there was little need to spy on them. The Scary One, though, was taking the train across the city on some kind of assignment, and that mandated a Dai Li spy to make sure she wasn't up to the trouble.

Laotao just wished someone else had been picked for the duty. He also wished he had a custard tart. Those were good.

The Scary One was seated at the front end of this train car, away from other passengers, right next to the door that would lead outside to the connector to the next car. Laotao sat at the car's midway point on the opposite side, ignoring the uncomfortable shifting of the people on either side of him, and kept a surreptitious eye on his assignment.

Suddenly, without a word, she chose that moment to stretch her arms, stand up, drag the door open halfway, and step outside and out of view.

Laotao blinked. What in the name of the Primordial Clay was that about? Carefully, he stood up, letting himself get used to the slight shifting of the train as it moved, and walked over to the door. He peaked his head out cautiously.

A hand grabbed the neckline of his robe and hauled him fully outside. The door slammed shut behind him, and Laotao found himself face to face with the Scary One in the small space between train cars. "Spying on people isn't nice," she said in a low, smoky voice that lacked any emotion.

Laotao just stared at her. He had never been caught before! Did the Dai Li even have a Getting Caught contingency protocol?

When she didn't get a reply, the Scary One sighed and said, "I don't want to make a big deal out of this. I spotted plenty of your friends in the funny hats all over this city, so I guess this is just how things are done here. Whatever. But as long as you're going to follow me, could you do me a favor? I need the train's schedule to be canceled for the rest of the day. See, I have to distract the Water Tribe boy so that, um, his girlfriend gets a chance to unpack and see the city without him smothering her with his company. If he's stranded in the Lower Ring, that's mission accomplished. It would help you, too, because then you could keep spying on me without having to traipse back and forth across this ridiculously-sized city of yours. We both win. What do you say?"

Hm, if the Scary One was just going to be with the Avatar's friend at the Central Military Center, that place already had plenty of Dai Li observers. Laotao could knock off for a bit and pick up a custard tart. "I think I can accommodate you," he said.

The Scary One didn't smile, but she did nod and let go of his robe. It was all about the little victories.

* * *

"General Fong's base will serve as the launching point of the attack," General How said from his position across the Giantly Impressive Map from Sokka. Sokka didn't say anything, even though Fong was a creep who tried to kill both Aang and his sister, because he was very proper that way, whatever Toph said. "In exactly two months, the Army and Navy will invade the Fire Nation on The Day of Black Sun." The General punctuated his pronouncement by moving a trio of stone Earth Armed Forces markers across the detailed map to the Fire Nation islands.

Sokka nodded appreciably. That was very dramatically timed, the perfect way to end the planning meeting. Unfortunately, Momo chose that moment to hop off of Sokka's shoulders and tackle the markers the way Appa attacked baskets of apples. "Aw, come on, Momo! You're ruining _the moment_!" Sokka sighed. "Sorry about that, guys. He gets indulged too much by my friends. He's never learned how to behave. Momo, _here_!"

The lemur, of course, ignored him.

General How gave a sigh of his own, and snapped the markers upright again with a quick Earthbending gesture. Momo chose _that _moment to decide he was better off on Sokka's shoulders. Really, they should start expecting more of the lemur. Toph was pulling her weight more than Momo, and she had joined the group much later.

"Just," the general said wearily, "let's get the Earth King's seal on the plans so that we can start ordering the execution."

Sokka hopped out of his seat and raised his hand. "Ooh! I can do that! I'll take it to the palace for you! Please? I promise I'll be fast!"

How sighed again.

* * *

Mai had just reached the main door of the Central Military Center's (ugh) main building when the door popped open in front of her and a dark-skinned teenager in blue stepped up and crashed into her. Mai herself stumbled back a few steps, while the other participant in the collision bounced off her Kyoshi chest armor and stumbled to the floor. Just as she looked down and recognized the Sokka guy, something fuzzy, flying, and white started circling her head and screeching at her.

Eeaah! Mai tensed and began swatting frantically with one of her hands. The other hand was patting and probing at her own dress to find something sharp to throw at the mysterious parasite. Finally, she found something hard and metal, and whipped it out into a throwing position.

A gold war fan deployed her hand.

Oh.

Another hand settled onto the fan, and Mai found herself looking Sokka straight in his disconcerting blue eyes. "It's just Momo," he said quickly. "He'll calm down in a second."

* * *

Sokka used the moment of stillness to check out the Kyoshi Warrior's face, and was disappointed to realize that it wasn't Suki. Nevertheless, the girl agreeably brought her arm down and snapped her fan closed before tucking it back in her belt. With that situation resolved, Sokka dusted himself off, checked to make sure that the Invasion plans were still tucked into his own belt, checked again a little more frantically before he remembered that he had tucked the scroll on his _left _side and not his right, and finally turned a smile of greeting onto the Kyoshi Warrior.

Hm, she looked a little bit familiar, but he didn't recall seeing her hairstyle on any of the Warriors back on Kyoshi Island. Ah well, that had been a whole season ago. As Momo settled back onto his shoulders, he said, "So, what brings you out this way? I thought you girls were going to be at the palace all day."

The Kyoshi Warrior blinked, opened her mouth, but then closed it again. Did she forget what she was here for? Finally, she said, "Actually, I came to see you. I have a message from Suki."

A grin lit up Sokka's face. "Ooh, is she okay? Does she need something? Did she say anything about how tall I am?"

The Kyoshi Warrior blinked again. "No. Suki said that the Dai Li are up to something, and that I should warn you that they're spying on you and us for some reason. I shook my tail, but there's no telling how many are in on it. We have to be cautious."

The Dai Li again! Sokka knew those guys couldn't be trusted! Sure, they had thrown Long Feng in jail, but creepy is as creepy does, and those guys were definitely creepy! "Thanks for the warning. Come on, I have to get these plans to the Earth King. We'll have to make sure the Dai Li don't interfere!" Sokka grabbed the Kyoshi Warrior by her fan-hand and dragged her to the Central Military Center's gate.

Momo flew behind them.

* * *

Mai resisted the urge to sigh. Great. Sokka was a Touchy Type. And now he was on his way back to the palace even faster than before. Hopefully, that Dai Li agent who had been spying on her was keeping to their agreement, and hadn't figured out that Mai had basically intimidated him into doing what she wanted to no gain for himself.

As they passed through the Center's front gate, Mai finally yanked her hand out of Sokka's grip. "I can run on my own, you know," she said as she trotted to keep pace with him.

"Oh, sorry," he replied as he moved. "So, uh, what's your name? Sorry if we already met before, but I was really focused on apologizing to Suki and then wearing the dress without completely losing my masculine identity."

Gah. Far too much information. Mai's mind was so tangled up in desperately trying to not picture any possibilities suggested by that statement that she began talking without thinking. "My name is M... ai... uh, Mai." Dragon droppings. Had he ever heard her name before? Had Ty Lee mentioned it? Whatever Azula said, Mai liked to think that she had a rather distinctive face, and if Sokka knew her name, it was probably a very short hop to the memories of her throwing knives at his head.

Instead, Sokka glanced back at her with a smile. "Nice to meet you, Meimei. Welcome to Ba Sing Se, official worst city ever."

* * *

Sokka arrived at the closest train station, Meimei right behind him, to find a disturbingly large and noisy crowd clustered around the boarding ramp. "What's going on?"

A heavy-set woman nearby turned to him, revealing a very cross expression on her face. "The train is out! Something wrong with the whole thingy that connects the train to the tracks. Said they need to bring a team of Earthbender craftsmen from the Upper Ring to repair it!" The woman's expression became as tight as her hair bun. "That's gonna take all tonight and tomorrow to fix, and they're not even refunding our tickets! I can't afford this!"

Uh oh. Sokka nodded at the woman (keeping a pleasant forced grin on his face so that she didn't sense weakness and strike) and turned back to Meimei. Momo was perched on her hair, and she didn't seem to know what to do about it. Waving Momo away from her, Sokka said, "How much you want to bet that the Dai Li are behind this? Come on, we're not going to let this delay us." He reached for her hand again, but she moved it out of his reach with uncommon grace.

"We're not? How exactly do you expect to get to the palace now? It will take an entire day to get back to the Upper Ring! We should just head back to the Military Center and wait things out." She flinched as Momo flew around her again, but the lemur kept to the air for now.

Hm, Sokka would have thought a Kyoshi Warrior more used to animals than that. And more dedicated to a mission. But then, how could she be if she didn't know the stakes? Looking down, Sokka organized his thoughts and clamped down on his emotions. "Look, these plans need to get to the Earth King as soon as possible. They could end the entire war in just two months! And I've been entrusted with protecting them. I..." He stopped, and found himself sighing. "I haven't always done the best job of protecting the things I had to. But this time, I'm not going to let anything stop me. We just need to get through the Lower Ring, and then we can check in at the first of the walls and see about arranging transportation. Come on, we can do this. You and I are both Kyoshi-trained Warriors."

Sokka looked Meimei directly in the eyes. They were a striking dark shade. "What do you say?"

* * *

Mai was struck dumb by Sokka's little speech. End the war in two months? How? What didn't he protect before? Should she just stab him now? He trained with Kyoshi Warriors? Would the flying bat-creature attack her if she did something against his master?

So Mai made an executive decision. (Probably her first ever. It left her feeling a little giddy.) This Sokka was too much of an unknown to try to dominate here and now. She had to stick with him, learn what was going on, and wait for the proper opportunity to head him off without ruining her cover. "Okay," she said. "Lead the way."

* * *

The two Dai Li agents watched as their charges moved off into the Lower Ring's dense foot traffic together. "That liar," Laotao said. "She promised that they were going to stay at the Center."

Zhuang shook his head. "Kids these days. They don't know how to keep still."

"Now we have to chase after them."

"Eh, finish your custard tart. They don't know their way in the Lower Ring, so they'll be going slow for a little while. Then we'll catch up to them, and figure out what in the King's name they're up to."

Laotao nodded, and bit into his creamy dessert goodness. Without swallowing first, he said, "Pleasure to be working with you, Agent Zhuang."

"Likewise, Agent Laotao."

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	2. Road Trip

**Road Trip**

_Katara took a deep breath, pushed aside the tent's flaps, and stepped inside._

_Her father was there, at the far side of the tent, looking down at a map with his full concentration. Beside him was Bato, who smiled immediately upon seeing Katara. The bandages that had covered Bato's arm the last time she saw him were gone now, revealing massive burn scars running up and down the limb. The injury no longer seemed to bother the tall man, as he moved easily and without pain to nudge Hakoda._

_Her father looked up, and immediately broke into a smile. "Katara." The emotion in his voice battered Katara's heart, and she held her ground until he hopped to his feet and hurried over to embrace her._

_That's when she faltered, and took a step back from her father. The look they shared was full of regret on both their parts._

_It had been a while since she really thought of him as 'Dad.'_

* * *

It had seemed like such a simple plan at first. Just run from the Inner Wall over to the other, More Inner But Not As Big wall that separated the Lower Ring from the Middle Ring, and ask very nicely for someone to arrange a carriage so that he could deliver the Invasion Plans to the Earth King. No problem. Intellectually, Sokka knew that the Lower Ring had its own hazards, but after traveling from one end of the world to the other, fighting off the Fire Nation's entire army of evil, he figured that the Lower Ring was something that could be handled, or at least fought. A dangerous animal, but one that could be tamed or killed with the right knowledge.

He didn't expect the place to attack him the way it did; Sokka had no defense against the power of _confusion_.

Scratching his head and looking around the unfamiliar street, Sokka turned to Kyoshi Warrior Meimei. "Um, I don't suppose you know where we are?"

The girl gave him a cool look (something she seemed to specialize in), and pointed to her left at a slight angle. "That's where the Inner Wall is." Sure enough, the massive wall rose high into the air and could be seen from anywhere in the Lower Ring. Pointing in the direct opposite direction, Meimei continued, "So this is the direction we want to go in." Lowering her arm slightly, she added, "And we are fifteen paces from a small apartment complex that's keeping us from moving in the most direct line towards our goal."

Sokka smacked his forehead. "Yeah, that's about where I had us placed, too." More depressingly, this wasn't the first time he and the stoic Kyoshi Warrior had found themselves in this situation. Ba Sing Se's Lower Ring seemed like it had been built almost haphazardly, with roads abruptly ending in front of buildings, streets that curved around and refused to honor the concept of a straight line, and an overall lack of planning that made grid structures everywhere cry. And he wasn't about to trust a guide after the first one took his copper piece and then ditched them at the first intersection. "No offense," Sokka said, "but I wish you were an Earthbender. If my friend Toph were here, she could just punch through any walls that were giving us trouble. Too bad she's visiting with her mom."

Meimei just regarded him blankly. Oh, yeah, even if she had been on Kyoshi Island when Team Avatar had visited, the group had only been him, Aang, and Katara at that point. Only Suki- who was probably pining for his manly company up in the Earth King's palace right now- had met Toph. "Come on," Sokka sighed. "Let's try the next street over. Maybe that will run through for a while."

Sokka turned around, and found that the way back had become blocked, too. His enemy wasn't a building this time, but rather a group of men in clothes that even the Swampbenders of Foggy Swamp would have found too raggedy for public use. The leader held a comparatively well-kept broadsword in front of him and said, "Uh oh, looks like they just re-zoned this street. You're going to have to pay a toll to leave."

Sokka squinted at the balding man. "Really? Dangit, this is why I hate cities. All right, hold on." He retrieved his change purse from his belt, and started digging through. From his shoulders, Momo peered down into the bag looking for food. "How much is the toll? I only have coppers on me, so I may have to take a while to count out the right change."

The swordsman sneered and took a step forward. "All the coppers in your bag will do for a start. And your girlfriend's nice silk dress, too. Is that real gold sewn into it?"

Sokka looked up and blinked at the man. "Wait wait wait. Are you... are you trying to _rob_us? Well, why didn't you just say so? For crying out loud, I'm trying to get somewhere in a hurry." He did a quick count of the robbers, five in total, and turned to Meimei. "Come on, let's get these losers."

* * *

From the roof of the apartment complex that had stymied Sokka earlier, two Dai Li agents looked down at the brewing confrontation. The taller one said, "Looks like our charges might be in trouble, Agent Laotao."

The shorter, plumper one said, "I think you might be surprised, Agent Zhuang. That girl knows her business."

Zhuang focused his vision on the painted Kyoshi Warrior, and said, "I have a proposition for you, Agent Laotao. One silver piece says they survive but lose all their money to those guys."

Laotao shrugged. "I accept your wager, Agent Zhuang."

* * *

Mai froze.

On the one hand, she and Sokka couldn't just give in to these bandits. She didn't care so much about Sokka's copper pieces, but there was no ways she was taking off her dress and handing it over to a group of thugs on an open street. Kyoshi Warriors undergarments were _not_ appropriate Spring-wear. On the other hand, Mai's lifelong combat training was very specialized, and allowed for the use of any projectiles but preferred knives and discs as weapons. The problem with _that_, of course, was that Sokka had plenty of fighting experience against Mai, Lady of Ten Thousand Hidden Knives, and would undoubtedly recognize the graceful, effective, frightening, efficient, and all around superior way she did battle. She would have to fight in a way that 'Meimei,' career Kyoshi Warrior and wearer of ugly facepaint, would have been trained.

Hm, perhaps she should have taken Ty Lee up on those cartwheel lessons, after all.

* * *

Meimei didn't respond. She just pulled a war fan out of her belt and threw it straight at the balding swordsman's head. He didn't even have time to defend himself. The weapon collided with his glistening dome with a clunk and he dropped like a belly-flopping flintwhale.

Sokka grinned, drew his war club, and threw himself screaming at the closest robber before the man could bring his knife into a useful position. Momo took to the sky and opened up his own front in the war by going for the next bandit in line. That would leave three for Meimei. That shouldn't be any problem for a Kyoshi Warrior.

* * *

Mai held her remaining fan out and looked at the three men approaching her. They all held knives that looked like they got much more regular maintenance than the robbers' clothes.

Mai envied them their weapons.

The one in the middle moved forward in a thrust at her neck. Mai batted at the blade with her war fan, knocking it just out of line, but only barely; the knife's point scratched at her skin as it swung to the side. At this point, the momentum of the thrust brought the man close up to her, so Mai employed a fighting technique that all girls in the Fire Nation were taught as part of basic self-defense training and slammed a knee right between her attacker's legs.

The other two robbers were upon her just as she was pushing the first aside to fall to the ground. One succeeded in stabbing at her before she could do anything to defend, but the blade was aimed low and slid harmlessly against her Kyoshi chest armor. The other man ignored the knife in his hand and instead grabbed at her right arm and pinned it beneath his own, keeping her fan out of play. She tried to strike at him with her left hand, but then that too was seized by the other attacker when he wrapped a meaty paw around her wrist, and he brought his knife up in his other hand to stab down at her, and Mai couldn't think of a way to save herself, and-

And then the white flying bat creature landed screeching on the guy's face.

He abruptly let go of Mai so that he could pull at the biting, clawing mess of fur attached to his head, and the Fire Nation woman wasted no time in taking advantage of the situation. A palm strike flattened the other robber's nose with a satisfyingly wet crunch, and his reflexive reaction was to get away from the source of such pain and cover his nose with his hands.

Goes to show the man wasn't trained at all. This action freed Mai's other arm, and also involved the man letting go of his knife. Mai caught it mid-drop, and in the same motion stabbed in down into his upper thigh. Turning around to the other attacker, she shooed the Momo-creature away from the man's face, then rammed a knee into his crotch, too, and once he was one the ground gave his head a good kick with her thick Kyoshi boots.

A look over at Sokka found him climbing to his feet triumphantly over his own pair of pummeled adversaries. He looked back at her with wide eyes. "Are you okay?"

Mai nodded once. She felt the lemur land on her hair, but this time she didn't startle at his touch.

Sokka was still looking at her. "Sorry," he said. "I thought you'd be able to handle those guys. I thought... you know, Kyoshi Warrior and all..."

Mai sighed. "I'm new. Don't worry about it. Come on, let's get out of here."

* * *

Zhuang reached for his change purse, but Laotao waved him off. "Just buy me a custard tart sometime."

* * *

They didn't talk again until the sun set below the elevated horizon of the Inner Wall. Sokka wasn't sure how long that took, exactly, but considering how late in the evening it had been when the muggers tried to do their silly 'toll' scam, it couldn't have been too long.

He ran a hand over his hair and wolf-tail, and said, "I'm still not sure how far we are from the Middle Ring, and it's dark now."

Meimei stopped walking and crossed her hands over her chest. The crowds of the Lower Ring moved easily around her. "You're either building up to asking me to walk all night, or about to suggest we find a room for the night."

"Um, yes," Sokka said. "The second one. You know, if that's okay with you."

She actually seemed to think about it for a minute, before replying. "So long as we can find a place that doesn't also board lice or pigeon-rats, I'm up for getting these boots off."

Sokka sighed with relief. He wasn't entirely comfortable with keeping the Earth King waiting overnight, but he was also really concerned about dragging a rookie warrior through the worst part of the worst city in the world in the dead of night. The fact that this warrior was a girl had nothing, _nothing _to do with his concern.

Really.

Five minutes later, Sokka stopped in front of a lit-up building and asked, "How about this place?"

At this point, he was long since done with expecting any enthusiasm in her voice. "Hm. 'Wong's Inn for Weary Lost Ones.' How fortuitously appropriate."

"And don't worry about lice or stuff. Momo eats them, so they'll stay away from our room."

"Oh, how charming," she mumbled. "Wait, room?"

He stopped at the inn's door, and looked back at her. "what's the problem?"

"We're going to _share _a room?"

He blinked. What was she getting at? "Unless you want to try singing for more copper pieces, then yeah. I wasn't planning on needing much money when I left this morning. Oh, wait, are you worried about my snoring? Don't be, it never kept Toph up, and she has really sensitive ears."

* * *

Alone in a room with a Water Tribe savage (and Momo, but between the earlier rescue and the way he chased all the lice out of the room, Mai was actually coming to appreciate the creature), Mai ran through options in her head. They had managed to get two futons out of the owner, but the room in question was merely a box with a door and shuttered window. There wasn't even a screen she could drag between her and the _boy_. She could try sleeping in her full dressings, but she was sure she was far too refined to actually fall asleep in such a state, never mind the danger of sleeping fully loaded. (Ty Lee had acknowledged that it was an accident, that time, but after all the blood and screaming, Mai never wanted to repeat the experience.)

Sokka glanced at her after laying out both futons on opposite sides of the room. "Are you going to take your makeup off?"

Oh, how should would like to- the colors were the stuff of nightmares- but there was still a chance that he would recognize her face, no matter how remote Princess Conquer-Ba-Sing-Se thought the odds, and given the slip with her name and fighting debacle this evening, it was best not to tempt fate and spirits. "I don't have my kit, or the solution that will wipe it off. At least I won't have to redo it tomorrow morning." Kneeling on her futon, she began undoing her hair.

Sokka laid down on his own mattress and watched her with his hands behind his head. "So, uh, I know that you're new, but do you know Suki well?"

Her long hair free, Mai ran her fingers through it. She hated how she had to pile it up in her Kyoshi disguise, and she wanted to make sure that the lemur hadn't left anything in it from when he rode on her head. "I'm from another settlement on the island. I only met Suki when she led a group of us to the Earth Kingdom to join the war." Usually, Mai didn't appreciate Azula's interrogation skills, but this time it was working in Mai's favor. Besides, it was quite an unusual use of hot chocolate, and worth seeing at least once in a lifetime.

"But you've been traveling with her for a while."

Mai lifted her chest armor over her head and laid it next to her futon. Momo immediately scurried over to investigate it. "She didn't talk much about you, if that's what you're building up to."

Sokka turned a smirk on her. "Actually, I was only going to ask about that after I got to main topic. I really wanted to know if you ever fought the Fire Nation. I mean, you're a newer warrior, so I was wondering if you joined up after Zuko's attack."

Zuko? Prince Zuko, banished to chase the Avatar who didn't exist? Mai knew he had come into conflict with Admiral Zhao at the North Pole while trying to pursue his fool's quest, but Mai had never really pictured him attacking backwater fishing settlements and terrorizing goofy Water Tribe boys.

That, more than anything she had heard before, separated him from the young teenager she remembered.

She moved onto her futon and pulled the quilt all the way up to her chin. "Yeah, it was after the attack. I heard about it, and that Suki was going to the mainland, so I joined up. I've been getting training, but I'm not so good taking on groups of attackers by myself, yet. Give me a good supply of weapons, and that's another story."

Sokka nodded as if he expected that answer, and went back to staring at the ceiling. Sure that his gaze wasn't on her, Mai began unfastening her dress underneath her cover. "Yeah," he said, "I pretty much left the South Pole for the same reason. We had been attacked lots of times before, you know, but it wasn't until Aang pushed things that I decided it was time for me to follow after my dad and go with the Avatar on his epic little Avatar Quest."

Mai squirmed out of the silk green dress, and bunched it up beneath the quilt. Slowly, silently, she began the last operation in her essential undressing. "What about your mom? Did she throw a fit when you left to kill Firebenders?"

Sokka didn't reply right away. Eventually, he just sighed. "They got her. That's why my dad left to fight."

Oh.

Mai tried to recall news and lessons about the War and battles with the Southern Water Tribe. She knew that Fire Lord Azulon had been the first to divide the Fire Nation's attention from the Earth Kingdom and onto the Tribes, in the belief that the Avatar must have perished at some point and been reborn in accordance with the cycle. The North had resisted, but had been successfully bottled up with their spirit broken, according to the textbooks. The South had been weaker, and every single one of their Waterbenders had been killed or captured. Some people still thought the Avatar was wasting away in a Waterbender-prison somewhere. Well, they had until the Airbender had finally showed his face.

But that was all a long time ago. Sokka's mother wouldn't have had a kid his age if she had been taken during Azulon's Culling. The textbooks were very clear that the Southern Water Tribe had been devastated by the attacks, and could never rise again as a fighting force.

Someone was _lying_.

Mai had been working as she was thinking, and removed the last of her knife-straps, bolt-launchers, and razor-holsters from her body. She tucked the pile of weapons underneath the Kyoshi dress so that they were completely hidden, and pushed the bundle out from beneath her quilt on the far side of her futon from Sokka. Covered only by paints, undergarments, a quilt, and the dark of the night, she sighed. "Good night, Sokka."

"Good night, Meimei."

The only sound for a while was Momo's trilling breaths.

"Are you _sure _Suki didn't talk about me too much?"

"Very sure. Good thing, too, or all the girls would have been too distracted to sleep at night."

"Heh."

* * *

Laotao listened for a while at window, but after an hour of silence, was willing to concede that the two teenagers were probably asleep. Just as he eased away from the shutter, Zhuang slid back over to their chosen spot on the roof. He produced a custard tart from his sleeves as he sat down on the overlapping tiles. "Here you go, Agent Laotao. I always pay my debts."

"My thanks, Agent Zhuang. Did you eat?"

"Yes, Agent Laotao, I purchased a nice meat roll that didn't have too much gristle in it."

"Ah, a rare treat in the Lower Ring."

"Indeed." Zhuang inclined his head at the window. "Are you satisfied that the Scary One's virtue is safe?"

Laotao nodded. "You were right, Mister Sokka Water Tribe seems to be quite the gentleman."

"I told you. He and the Avatar's other friends all slept in the Great Room of the home we lent them. Savages like that have no problem sharing space with women, but this one at least seems to be able to behave himself."

"Fair enough, Agent Zhuang. Would you like the first Watch?"

"I would be honored, Agent Laotao."

* * *

Sokka woke up to find the sun streaming through the holes in the shutter, and Meimei doing up her hair in that complicated style. As she stabbed a wooden needle into the back of the arrangement, Sokka couldn't help but be reminded of Katara's own need to keep her hair so precisely shaped. His sister used a close variant of the same style that Mom had liked, and Gran-Gran, too. Still, the hair-loopies were nowhere as complex as what Meimei was putting together.

Meimei's hair was nice and shiny, too. Something about it seemed almost sort of familiar to Sokka, but he couldn't think what it could be. "Good morning," he said. "Ready to go?"

"I guess," came the flat reply. "Not to be too familiar, but what are the bathroom situations in this place?"

"Oh, there's a room with a bucket at the end of the hall. Everyone has to empty their own. You want first turn?"

She turned to stare at him with a thoroughly appalled expression. "Oh, _ashes_, no."

"Okay," he shrugged. "I'll go first."

* * *

Having obtained directions from the innkeeper, Mai and her pet Water Tribal were making much better time than yesterday. That, of course, was a bit of a problem. As much as Mai wanted to get back to _civilization_ (or what passed for it in the Earth Kingdom) she still needed to keep Sokka away from the palace. She could try to attack him, she supposed, but then what? If she won, was she supposed to somehow take and keep him captive? Should she kill him? Mai knew _how _to end a life, of course, but...

Well, there was probably a good reason not to, otherwise why would she find the idea so distasteful? Azulon's Culling was finished, anyway, so what good would one more dead Water Tribal do?

"Ooooh," Sokka cooed from beside Mai. "Do you smell that?"

Mai did a quick run-through of all the scents she detected and filtered out all the _lovely _smells of unsanitary human life. Very carefully not thinking of her bathroom experience earlier that morning, she said, "You mean the smell of rancid, greasy meat frying?"

"Yes!" Sokka's gesture sent Momo into flight. "Come on, let's stop for lunch. We made good time and should be close to the Middle Ring. Might as well take a break." He trotted over to the side of the road, where nestled among the street vendors was a man frying up something that looked vaguely inspired by the remains of a meat roll.

Mai crossed her arms over her chest armor. "I thought you were running low on..." Her sharp eyes caught the sight of a child quickly snaking its way through the pedestrian traffic to get right behind Sokka's position. "...copper..." The kid, could have been a boy or a girl with that green rag tied around its head, reached for the scroll tucked into Sokka's belt on the left side. "...pieces..." The kid plucked the scroll out and took off with it.

Huh.

Sokka must have felt the shifting of his belt, because he turned around in time to catch the kid disappearing into the crowds. "Hey! Bring that back! It's a matter of national security!"

Everyone on the street turned to look at him.

Sokka grinned stiffly. "Well, you know, maybe I exaggerated a little. It's not worth any money, either."

The crowd kept staring. Sokka stared back. Finally, the Water Tribal broke into a run aimed in the vague direction the child thief had taken.

Mai sighed. At least everyone was getting back to their business. Momo settled on top of her head, but Mai ignored him for now. She was moving her gaze across the scene before her, following the flow of the crowd. She started moving in a slow walk, following the tide of people, tracking those who moved in and out of the human stream with casual grace. A good thief didn't ambush people like the "toll collectors" from the previous evening, she became one with her surroundings, and struck only in accordance with the nature of the environment, aiming precisely and hitting the target with confidence. Any pickpocket who could survive in the Lower Ring had to be a master of this, would know how to turn an obvious, disruptive escape into more practical fading into the background.

The background, in this case, was the pedestrian traffic that Mai was following.

Her eyes suddenly found what she was looking for, a child of a certain height whose long hair was no longer bound in a dark green rag. Casually, without breaking her stride, Mai leaned down and grabbed a small rock (a chipped segment of an old clay brick, good shape without being too heavy), and then whipped it at her target as she stood up straight again.

The rock struck the kid right in the back of the head, knocking her off her feet.

Mai broke into a run so fast that Momo fell off the back of her head. She slipped between surprised pedestrians, and was over the kid before she could recover her senses. "Give me the scroll, brat," she growled. Drawing a war fan, Mai added, "Or would you like to see what I can do with a real weapon?"

Oh yes, Azula would be _so _proud. Then again, perhaps the Princess did actually approve of terrorizing children, cheesy lines or not.

Thankfully, no one around her was too concerned with a uniformed warrior straightening out a local pickpocket. The kid immediately offered the Invasion plans up, and ran off as soon as Mai took hold of them. That was fine. Mai got what she wanted. Tucking the scroll underneath her chest armor, Mai smiled at Momo as the lemur flew back over to her. "Come on, Momo. Let's go help Sokka find what he's looking for. I bet it will take a long time."

* * *

The hours had drained away, lunch came and went, but Sokka was no longer concerned with food. He _lost_ the Invasion plans! He lost the _Invasion plans_! _He_ lost the Invasion plans! And just to round things out, _he lost the slush-soaked Day of Black Sun Invasion plans!_

No wonder Dad left him behind. If only Yue's father had realized how hopeless Sokka really was before it was too late.

Sokka was sure he had walked the entire neighborhood, but no dice. The pickpocket was long gone, and doing who knows what with the Invasion plans. Knowing his luck, they were probably being sold to a Fire Nation bounty hunter right now. Sokka would have to go back to the Council of Five, explain how he let himself get trapped in the Lower Ring, and then lost the special document in need of the Earth King's seal a full day later.

Yeah, that was a good way to inspire confidence in Team Avatar. Just wait until Katara and Toph heard about this.

He watched glumly as Meimei ambled into the little deserted plaza that he had chosen for his mope-fest. Momo flew in her wake and landed on one of the empty torch-holders that surrounded the fountain. She came over and sat next to him on the fountain's edge. "Hey," she said.

"Hey."

"I'm getting sick of the Lower Ring," she said.

"Yeah."

"So I'm thinking we should take this to the Earth King," she said.

Sokka looked over at the sound of paper scraping against chest armor.

Oh.

"Meimei, I could _kiss you_." That moment, he really meant it.

* * *

Sokka seemed so happy, Mai didn't feel the need to let him know about the copy of the plans she was hiding in her boot.

* * *

Although traffic was restricted, Ba Sing Se understood that the comfortable merchants and learners of the Middle Ring had need to travel to the Lower Ring on occasion, not to mention the necessary flow of fresh foodstuffs from the farms in the Outer Fields all the way through to the Upper Ring. At the same time, allowing too many points where people and goods could pass through the Inner Walls would make it more difficult to prevent unauthorized Class Mixing. Thus, in his infinite wisdom, the eighth Earth King had decreed that there should be twelve gates connecting the Lower Ring to the Middle Ring, each one to be named for one of the Sky Spirits. The characters for Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig labeled one gate a piece, imbuing Ba Sing Se with yet more culture for its people to bask in.

The Dai Li really liked it when people basked in culture, but Zhuang and Laotao were on a different mission right now.

"It's a very simple order," Zhuang told the guardsman of the Monkey's Gate. "Just tell the Water Tribal and the painted warrior that you can't get them a carriage. Make up whatever excuses you have to."

"Needless to say," Laotao added, "Agent Zhuang's order should be treated as coming from the Earth King himself."

"Thank you, Agent Laotao."

"Just doing my job, Agent Zhuang."

The guardsman rubbed his excessively sized chin and twitched his gaze back and forth between the two Dai Li. "But you want me to let them through the Gate?"

Laotao nodded. "The Water Tribal has travel permits for the whole city. Block his passage, and you'll be going against the Earth King's generosity."

"That would be bad," Zhuang noted.

The guardsman continued to think on that. "Um, if it won't get me all disappeared by the Dai Li, can I ask the purpose of only slightly hindering these people?"

Laotao and Zhuang shared a look. Finally, Zhuang said, "They ruined our day, yesterday."

Laotao nodded. "We're striking back at them through the bureaucracy."

The guardsman of the Monkey's Gate let himself relax. "Okay," he said, "I can understand that."

* * *

Once they were safely in the Middle Ring, Sokka turned around and shook his fist at the Monkey-guard. "Your mother was a vegetarian!"

Meimei rolled here eyes at him. "What are you doing?" She reached up to where Momo was curled around her shoulders and stroked his head.

Sokka held up a pair of rude gestures at the guardsman, who was in turn glaring impotently at him. "Hey, I haven't had a good day, all right? I missed lunch. Give me this, at least." Meimei just eyed him, then looked over at the guardsman who claimed that foreigners weren't allowed to ride in a carriage without a Dai Li escort.

She turned and held up an identical set of gestures.

* * *

"Hey, Meimei."

Ashes, she was getting sick of that name. "Hm?"

"See that over there?"

Mai glanced over where Sokka was lethargically pointed as they walked. "Hm?"

"That's Ba Sing Se University."

Well, it was a suitably sprawling campus, or at least looked so in the moonlight. "Hm."

"I knew a professor who worked there."

Mai really wanted some Fire Flakes. "Hm."

"He stayed behind in the lair of the giant killer Owl."

And some lemonade. "Hm?"

"Oh, yeah. There's no helping some people."

Mai decided that no Kyoshi Warrior had ever walked more than a mile in these boots. "Hm."

"I think seeing the University means we're almost through the Middle Ring."

Oh, that would be nice. Perhaps they wouldn't have to climb over the wall to the Upper Ring if they made it to the gate before curfew. "Hm?"

"Yup. And just think, maybe the next carriage we see will actually be willing to pick up hitchhikers!"

Or maybe she would just pull some knives and hijack the thing. "Hm."

"You doing okay? You're more taciturn than usual."

"I no longer have feeling in my feet."

"Oh. Uh, sorry?"

"Tell me another story about strange people and killer spirits."

"Okay, well, one time we found this village being terrorized by a monster who looked like an inkblot. The village people thought a twelve-year-old kid could save them."

It was like having Ty Lee around, only without most of the accompanying annoyances. "Hm."

* * *

It wasn't long before midnight when they passed the fancy new teashop. Sokka couldn't quite read the sign in the darkness, especially not with his eyes all blurry after all the eye-straining searching he did for the temporarily-stolen-but-recaptured-by-awesome-Meimei plans, but it looked like 'The Jasmine Something.' Seeing that the lights were still on and the door still open, he pointed at it. "Hey, want to stop for something? I think I have enough coppers for a cup of tea, at least. Keep in mind, we missed both lunch _and _dinner."

Meimei looked over at the building, squinted at it and the figure who walked over to sweep the foyer, and suddenly tripped over her own feet.

Sokka was instantly at her side, and Momo was peering down from his shoulder at the girl with concern. "You okay?"

Meimei pushed herself to her feet, and dusted off her skirt with stiff, awkward nonchalance. "Yeah, my feet are just tired. We're close enough to the palace, we should just keep going. Now." She hurried forward, ignoring the teashop completely.

Sokka looked at Momo, and Momo looked at Sokka. "Maybe she doesn't like tea? It _does _seem lead to more frequent bathroom breaks."

Momo cooed.

Sokka shrugged. "Well, she treated her bathroom break at the inn like it was traumatic or something. Maybe she has issues."

* * *

Once they reached the Forbidden Palace, Mai left Sokka arguing with one of the guards at the front door about whether it was appropriate to wake the Earth King up in the middle of the night just to handle some paperwork. She walked straight up the ten thousand steps into the palace, and made a beeline for the room the 'Kyoshi Warriors' had been given, but which Mai had never had the fortune to experience until now.

Zuko was in the city.

The palace halls were quiet, but there was still life about. Guards, both Dai Li and the regular tin-idol variety, patrolled the lonely halls. They wisely did not impede Mai's path to a clean bed. She had given Azula two days' respite from Sokka. At this point, Mai deserved the reward of rest and sleep, and Azula deserved the found out by the Avatar's companion.

Maybe that would keep her from noticing her brother sweeping floors just a few blocks away. Better she run into Sokka.

At least, if Mai had to be stuck with Sokka for two days, he hadn't been _bad _company. Their travels were wearying, but he had been decent enough company. His mother must have trained him well. Before she died. Perhaps he didn't deserve Azula's attention, either.

What was it with her and boys in need of motherly attention? She didn't _think_ she was motherly.

Mai was five steps from the room she was supposed to be sharing with Azula and Ty Lee, leaning wearily against the wall as she walked, when the door slid open soundlessly and two Dai Li agents dragged a struggling Azula herself out and into the dark hallway. The whole trio ignored Mai where she stood in the shadows.

Huh. That was convenient. Now she wouldn't have to tell Azula about _any _teenage boys, and this probably meant that the Princess no longer had to worry about Sokka finding her out. Satisfied that her mission was accomplished, Mai headed straight into the room and dropped fully clothed into the first bed she encountered.

She took the time to throw her boots off, though.

The moment before she fell asleep, Mai got the feeling that she wasn't quite thinking right. About what, specifically, she had no idea.

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	3. Layers

**Layers**

_"Congratulations, Avatar Aang. You can now enter the Avatar State at will."_

_Aang smiled with all his heart at Guru Pathik. "Thank you so much for your help."_

_The Guru merely smiled back, and waved the thanks away. "It is but my purpose," he said. "Next, we will work on building up your control of the Avatar State, and exiting it at your command. This will require absolute mastery of Self."_

_"Actually, I have a question, first."_

_The Guru nodded. "Ask it."_

_Aang squirmed where he sat. "When we were talking about my letting go of attachments, giving up Katara, did you mean that I'm not allowed to get married at all?"_

_Guru Pathik blinked, then burst into laughter. "Ah ha ha, you are a funny one, Avatar Aang. No, there is nothing wrong with your marrying. In fact, I encourage you to enjoy love and all its fruits. I merely meant that you couldn't put your love over the needs of the world. Such a thing would not be healthy for anyone, because it is trust that truly makes us all equals. That's the attachment I was talking about. Certainly, there is merit in a simple lifestyle, but it is not the only path."_

_"Oh," Aang exhaled. "That's a relief. I am so glad I asked. All right, now let's do some Self-bending!"_

* * *

"The Earth King and The Council of Five do not trust the Dai Li," Azula began. "They imprisoned your leader, Long Feng. Soon they will..."

Mai tuned the Princess out and stifled a yawn. It was far too early in the morning for this level of intensity, and besides, Mai knew all of Azula's speech tricks by heart. She could just fill in Azula's oration with something a bit more interesting, like, "I am a control freak and obsessive compulsive perfectionist! I hate my brother because I secretly fear his competition and will never be able to have a physical relationship with a boy until I put my family issues to rest for good. However, you're all stupid people in cone hats, so you should do what I say regardless of my unacknowledged flaws. As my first command, I want this pale reflection of a proper city captured in the name of the Fire Nation so that my daddy will smile at me and I can feel validated!"

Or something like that.

"If I sense any disloyalty, any hesitation, any weakness at all, I will snuff it out. That is all," Azula finished for real. With the speech over, the Dai Li made a synchronized exit and left Mai and Ty Lee alone with Azula in the underground lair.

"Nice speech Azula," Ty Lee said as she poured a cup of tea. "It was pretty and poetic, but also scary in a good way."

Mai was going to chime in with her own sycophantic acknowledgement, something she normally would have enjoyed if just because she loved watching Azula bully strangers, but another urge to yawn struck her and this time she was overwhelmed by its momentum. When she finished, she found Azula and Ty Lee staring at her. "Sorry. I got in late last night."

"Yes," Azula said, brushing one of her bangs to the said, "so you told us already. Are you going to be capable of fighting later? I need you and Ty Lee to stay undercover as Kyoshi Warriors and keep an eye on the Earth King. I should be back in time for the coup, but I may need you girls to fight off any misguided rescue attempts while we wait for Long Feng and the arrests of the Council of Five."

Mai took a cup of tea from Ty Lee. "I'll be okay. I'm actually looking forward to just sitting around all day."

"Well, it's not just sitting around," Ty Lee said. "We do have to clean up after the bear when he makes a mess."

Mai froze halfway through a sip of her tea. "Bear?"

"Yeah. The Earth King's pet."

"You mean a platypus-bear?"

"No," Ty Lee said. "It's just a-"

"Please!" Azula's hands pressed against her forehead. "Let's not get into _that_."

Mai shrugged and went back to her tea. "So where will you be? I thought we were sticking together today."

Azula shook her head. "No, I have other business to take care of. I was going through some of Long Feng's files early this morning, and I learned about some rather interesting figures currently living in Ba Sing Se."

Mai quirked an eyebrow.

"No need for you to worry about it." Azula leaned on the table next to Ty Lee's teapot and crossed her arms. "I've arranged for the owner of 'The Jasmine Dragon' to be invited to serve tea to the Earth King himself at lunchtime. Sadly, His Majesty is unaware of the appointment, so I'll be attending in his stead, with a contingent of Dai Li. I don't expect much resistance, and I should be back in time to depose the Earth King, and then I can seize control of this entire city for the Fire Nation!"

The _Jasmine Dragon? _Mai felt a wave of numbness race through her body, but she trusted her fingers to keep hold of her teacup.

Azula was going after Zuko.

"Don't be late," Mai forced herself to say. "Side-missions or no, I am _not _cleaning bear poop."

"Yes, well, it's about time for you girls to report for guard duty." Azula said quickly. "Oh, and try to keep away from the Water Tribe boy. I'm still not sure he won't recognize Ty Lee on sight, whatever you think of his intelligence." The princess gave Mai a weary look. "Was it really too much trouble to implement a permanent solution? Very disappointing, Mai. I trust you'll fulfill the spirit of my orders today, hm?"

"Of course," Mai answered without hesitation. Sokka may be amusing, but now that she was relatively rested, she could firmly remember that he was a savage, an enemy, and a stranger who wasn't worth any effort on her part. Of course, that didn't mean he couldn't be useful. She tossed off the last of her tea. "Come on, Ty. Let's go put on the clown suits."

She also, secretly, made the second executive decision of her entire life. Mai was a little surprised to discover that it was habit-forming.

* * *

Sokka smiled, lowered himself to his knees, and held up the the only slightly creased and battered scroll. "The plans for the Day of the Black Sun Invasion, Your Majesty. Fresh from the Council of Five. More or less."

The Earth King smiled back as he took the scroll. "Let's see what they've come up with." He unfurled the paper and began reading. Every so often, he gave a, "Hm," or an, "Aha," and even one, "Oh my." All the sounds echoed in the massive, nearly empty throne room. Sokka waited patiently for the King to finish, but he seemed engrossed in the details of the military plans.

Sokka looked around the throne room. It was really a waste of space, considering how empty it usually was. Shouldn't the King have advisers or something hanging around? Facing back towards the King, Sokka said, "Do you actually know what you're reading?"

"Not in the slightest," the Earth King said, never taking his eyes off the plans.

Behind him, Sokka heard the fancy door grind open. "The Kyoshi Warriors reporting for duty," one of the armored guards announced.

Sokka spun so fast his knees twisted around each other. "_Suki!_"

"Wow, Sokka, it's great to see you, too," Meimei drawled.

* * *

Mai strode into the throne room confidently, while Ty Lee smoothly adjusted her pace and path so that the knife-thrower blocked Sokka's view of her. It was almost funny the way the Water Tribe boy's face fell when he realized he still wasn't getting his desired visit with his girlfriend.

"Ah, girls!" The bespectacled man who had welcomed the 'Kyoshi Warriors' two days ago- the Earth King himself, judging by the size of the throne he was perched on- beamed at Mai and Ty Lee. "Look, Sokka delivered the plans for the Invasion I was telling you about! Why don't we look them over and you can advise me of their viability?"

"We would be honored," Mai said with a bow. "But if it pleases Your Majesty, I need to have a word with Sokka before I officially come on duty. It won't take long."

"Mai," Ty Lee hissed behind her, but the knife-thrower ignored it.

Sokka blinked at her. "Is it about Suki? I can meet her wherever she wants!"

The King nodded his assent, so Mai grabbed the Water Tribe boy by the arm and dragged him away on a path that kept Ty Lee out of his focus. She led him out of the throne room, down a little ways from the guards where a pedestal sat oddly empty in an alcove. "You remember my original warning that led to our getting trapped in the Lower Ring?"

Sokka's smile vanished. "The Dai Li."

Mai nodded, and said, "It's worse than we thought. They're working with the Fire Nation." Sokka's eyes widened gratifyingly." Suki hasn't uncovered their ultimate goal, yet, but she found out that they're setting a trap for a pair of very important people. Two of the city's most prominent tea-experts, and very politically influential. They've been given an invitation to the palace, where the Dai Li will drop the net and hide them away forever."

Sokka threw his arms in the direction of the throne room. "Then we need to tell the Earth King! He can get rid of all those guys for good!"

Mai quirked an eyebrow. "The guy who needs the Kyoshi Warriors to explain his own nation's military plans to him?" Sokka wilted instantly. "I wish it were that easy," she continued, "but the Dai Li have him firmly under their thumbs, even if he doesn't realize it. We need to take care of this ourselves."

Sokka sighed and nodded. "What's the plan?"

"Simple. I go in and report for guard duty as expected, so that the bad guys don't realize that we're on to them. _You _go figure out how to save those tea-makers, or free them if it's too late."

Sokka planted his face in his hands. "This is revenge for making you walk across the entire city, isn't it?"

* * *

Okay, so it was just him against the entire Dai Li organization. No problem. He had beaten up a giant killer owl, hadn't he? Never mind that he couldn't even deliver the Invasion plans without Meimei's help. If only she could have joined him. She didn't have the most sparkling personality, and she had some trouble in fights, but she was still a very intelligent and capable Kyoshi Warrior. Sokka liked her. She was way better than Haru, in any event.

It would have been great to have Suki's assistance, too. He probably should have asked Meimei about that before letting her go back into the throne room.

Ah well, nothing he could do about that now.

Sokka walked the halls of the Forbidden (they were really going to have to come up with a new name) Palace and thought about the situation. Okay, so he had no idea where the Dai Li were setting their trap, nor any clue who they were trying to catch. Well, that wasn't quite true. He knew that the ambush was taking place somewhere in the palace. It was too big to try to search by himself, but that wasn't really important.

Sokka knew the predator's hunting ground, so it was just a short step to figuring out where the predator came from, and where it would drag its prey.

If the tea-makers were coming to the palace, they'd have to pass through the complex's main gate, and unless the Dai Li dragged them directly under the palace with their Earthbending, they would have to leave the same way.

Stakeout time!

* * *

Mai thought that life couldn't get more boring than living in captured Omashu. The realization of naive she had been hurt _almost_ as much as hanging out in the Earth King's throne room as his honor guard while he received his morning 'lessons.' Mai recalled Princess Azula learning most of these subjects- economics, recent history, how to read his country's own laws- shortly before Fire Lord Azulon flared out. When she was _eight_.

At least Mai was allowed to sit beside Ty Lee on the wings of the central dais, and not right next to the throne itself. "Your aura is a really muddy blue," Ty Lee whispered to her.

Mai rolled her eyes. Perhaps being bored wasn't the worst possible fate. "Ty," Mai whispered back, "have I ever cared what color my supposed aura is?"

"Hmmmm. No, I don't think so."

"Then I doubt the pattern is broken yet."

"But Mai," Ty Lee hissed. "That means you're really stressed and afraid, in addition to the all the emotional bottling-up you do. What's wrong? You've been off since we talked with Azula this morning."

Mai didn't know how to answer that. She felt worse than she had before she decided to manipulate Sokka into saving Zuko, and she honestly had no idea why.

"It's Zuko, isn't it?" Ty Lee whispered. "Azula's going after Zuko."

Mai pursed her painted lips and wondered if she should just go with that.

Ty Lee squinted at her. "But... that's not all of it, is it? Mai, what's going on? What did you do?"

"I acted without thinking," Mai whispered. "And I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to stop."

* * *

You know, for a Forbidden Palace, there was a lot of coming and going. The 'Forbidden' part really seemed to only apply to Avatars who didn't have appointments. For example, just while Sokka had been watching the main gate over the course of an hour, he saw several food deliveries come and go, fancy carriages bringing various tutors, supplicants, and bureaucrats, and even one door-to-door salesman with high hopes. Heck, they even let Water Tribe loiterers sit around in the sun and polish their boomerangs. Where were the _standards_?

None of these things merited the attention of the Dai Li, though.

Except for that one pair of guys, there. The guards halted them at the gate, but then a Dai Li agent stepped over to say something, and suddenly no one had a problem with the short round guy holding the tea service set and the taller guy with shaggy hair.

Sokka watched from a distance as they were led to the residential wing of the palace.

* * *

After his lessons, it seemed like there was nothing else for the Earth King to busy himself with. He still sat around on his throne, but he wasn't doing anything more than playing with his bear. (A _bear_. Mai would have nightmares about its unnatural visage for years to come. Things like that did not belong in the physical world.)

At least he was content to let his Kyoshi Honor Guards hang around out of earshot and shoot the breeze.

"Mai, _what did you do?_"

"Not telling."

"_Maaaaiiiii..._"

"Yes, whining will certainly get me to talk."

"You're going to get in trouble with Azula."

"No, I won't."

"Yes, you will."

"Won't."

"Will."

"Won't."

"Will."

"Won't."

Ty Lee paused, and gave half a smile. "You know, I think I missed really arguing with you like this."

Mai thought about that, and nodded. "Actually, I think I did, too."

* * *

Sadly, it seemed that Sokka's being buds with the Earth King did not mean that he could just stroll into the residential wing of the palace without an escort. The guard said something about the presence of the royal concubines, which really threw Sokka for a loop, because _look at that guy_, and he had concubine_s_, and that meant he and a bunch of women were all _oogies_ together, and _gaaaaah!_

Sokka had suspicions that he was being messed with, somehow.

Thus, when the sounds of crashes and explosions started, Sokka was stuck listening from outside in the garden, hidden in a bush shaped like a giant badger-beaver. (Well, that's what it _looked _like.) It sounded like someone was having a pretty big brawl in the palace, which Sokka hadn't expected because, you know, Upper Ring tea-makers, right? Maybe one or both of them was an Earthbender? Still, there weren't many Earthbenders who could fight off the Dai Li, and Sokka still hadn't managed to find any sign that Toph was even still in the city.

He was completely unprepared when the wall above him exploded with a flash of lightning, and a fat guy came flying out to crash directly onto Sokka.

* * *

"Oh dear, Bosco made a mess again!"

Ty Lee and Mai held each other's gaze for a moment, then Mai turned to go deal with the bear poop. Ty Lee hissed, "This isn't over!" as Mai walked away.

Joy. Even _Ty Lee_ was suspicious of her. And for what gain? What was Sokka really going to be able to do to help Zuko? Would he even want to, once he realized who he was helping? Sokka did mention that Zuko had attacked Kyoshi Island while he was there, but then Zuko went and... did _something _at the North Pole that had him and General Iroh declared traitors. Did that mean he and Sokka were on the same side, now?

Was that good?

It was all almost enough to distract Mai from the bear poop.

* * *

"_Arrrrgh! What the slush?!_"

"My apologies," Old Guy Who Followed Zuko around said as he climbed off Sokka. "I did not expect anyone to be lurking in the topiaries."

"Uncle," a harsh voiced sounded from above, "are you all right? Who's that with you?"

Sokka looked up at the hole in the palace's second-story wall, and found Angry Jerk himself staring down at him. "_You!_" It took Sokka a second to realize that he and Zuko had said the exact same thing at the exact same time.

Then the sound of Firebending echoed from behind Zuko, and the Angry Jerk spun around just in time to raise a shield of red flames against the incoming blue light. To Sokka's surprise, Zuko's defense was about as effective as using Momo as a living shield, because the blue fireball exploded against the Angry Jerk's flames and the force knocked Zuko back with impressive speed.

Right out the hole in the wall.

"Catch him!" Old Guy Who Followed Zuko Around screamed, and the steel in his voice had Sokka obeying without even thinking. The only problem was that effective rescue attempts usually involved either thinking or luck, and Sokka had no illusions about his lack of the latter, so all the pair accomplished was cushioning Zuko's fall when he crashed right on top of Sokka. That was two Firebenders falling on Sokka's head in half as many minutes.

Why couldn't his friends be here to share in this misery?

Sokka shoved Angry Jerk off of him and looked back up at the hole in the wall. A new figure had stepped over to look out, and-

Was that The Blue Fire Girl?! Whatshername... _Azula! _And she was wearing one of those shirts with the Dai Li symbol on them that they sold to gullible tourists.

What the slush was going on here?

Contrary to what Katara thought, Sokka was indeed the brain of Team Avatar's operations, and his next action certainly proved it. He scrambled to his feet and ran like, well, a Princess of the Fire Nation was after him.

* * *

"Why can't you just mind your business," Mai was saying.

"Why can't you understand that people care about you," Ty Lee retorted.

At this point, the Earth King was staring at them with unabashed curiosity, straining to hear their harsh whispers. Good thing a pair of armored palace guards used that moment to suddenly burst into the throne room.

Wait, what?

"Your Majesty," one guard called out. "There's a running fight within the complex walls between what appear to be two Firebenders and the Water Tribe boy on one side, and another Firebender wielding blue flames and the Dai Li on the other. We... well, we have no idea what's going on. Should we just kill them all?"

Without thinking, Mai made an executive decision. Again. "Ty, guard the Earth King. I'll check it out."

As she ran off, Mai vaguely heard the Earth King giving orders to his guards to follow her lead.

* * *

Sokka's tactical retreat was not working out as well as he hoped. His flight had carried him out to the open courtyard, but everyone and their uncle followed him with their stupid Firebending and Earthbending and snarling and what have you, which unsurprisingly attracted the attention of the guards, which depressingly led to a pitched battle that had everyone was fighting everyone.

Sokka did his best to make himself as small as possible and tried to avoid getting caught up in any political wars or personal vendettas.

The palace guards had raised the stones of the courtyard into giant walls that had contained the fighting, but the Dai Li were systematically breaking them down as they got in Azula's way. The Princess herself was engaged in a two-on-one duel with Zuko and his uncle, and danged if she wasn't really holding her own. Sokka probably could have gotten in a good boomerang shot against her, but he couldn't be sure that Zuko winning would be a good thing.

That's when Meimei led a small army of extra guards down the front steps of the palace, and stopped them all in front of the suddenly still battle.

Sokka looked at Meimei.

Meimei looked at Zuko.

Zuko looked at Meimei.

Zuko's Uncle looked at Meimei.

Azula looked at Meimei.

Under all the scrutiny, Meimei shifted to look at Azula.

Azula shook her head and said, "Well, I suppose we just couldn't make the timing work. Mai, arrest the Earth King. Dai Li, arrest all these guards as traitors and move against the Council of Five. I'll finish my brother."

Meimei moved, drawing burgundy throwing blades from somewhere in her Kyoshi uniform and-

_Throwing blades?!_

Then Sokka's sight and hearing were slowly swallowed by night, and he couldn't have been falling, because he didn't feel the air rushing against his skin.

* * *

"Report," Azula commanded from the Badgermole Throne.

The Dai Li agents both knelt and each placed a stone-armored hand against their chests in salute. The taller one spoke first. "Your Majesty, all resistance in the palace has been suppressed. The guards present for the declaration of the coup were all either killed or captured, and the survivors are currently imprisoned in the high-security metal cells. The Earth King has also been secured in such a cell, but in a different wing from the guards. The rest of the palace staff have surrendered, and are being vetted by Dai Li archivists. The rest of the Agents have been deployed into the city to secure as much as they can. General How was arrested in the Upper Ring and brought to the palace, again isolated in a high-security cell."

The shorter, plumper agent took over. "Generals Sung, Goon In, and Xing evaded arrest. General Meimo is completely unaccounted for. We suspect that they disappeared into the Lower Ring, which itself is falling into riots as rumors of the coup spread. Our best tacticians recommend leaving it to the neighborhood police forces, and focusing our manpower on securing the Upper and Middle Rings. We can always reestablish order once Fire Nation reinforcements arrive and our numbers aren't spread so thin. Oh, and Director Long Feng wants to know when we're going to let him out of his cell, now that the schedule is changed. We're waiting on your word."

Azula listened to it all stoically. Once the report concluded, she crossed her legs and brought her hands together to form a steeple. "And what of my brother and uncle?"

The Dai Li traded glances. "Would you like to explain, Agent Zhuang?"

"I believe you lost our latest bet, Agent Laotao."

"Yes, well, we have no news to report on that front. After General Iroh... um, blinded us all with his Lightning-bending power, he disappeared with Prince Zuko during the subsequent fighting. With the Water Tribe boy. We have no idea where they went, although we did find an abandoned carriage being dragged by its birds through the Upper Ring. We identified it as having been parked within the palace complex not far from the fighting."

During the whole recitation, leaning on the wall right behind the Badgermole Throne, Mai kept very still and made sure she displayed no reaction. Without looking, she could feel Ty Lee beside her, staring with what was undoubtedly accusation.

* * *

Sokka came to someplace dark. Whether it was because night had fallen, or he was somewhere deep indoors, he couldn't immediately say. He was definitely sure that he didn't like finding Zuko and his uncle staring down at him.

At least the Uncle guy smiled politely. "Are you alright?"

"You fainted," Zuko bit out with an extra scowly scowl.

Sokka groaned and sat up, but didn't take his eyes off the other two. He wasn't quite sure yet if they were still enemies. On the other hand, they were his only source for answers, right now. But where to begin?

"So," Sokka said, "I guess you're going to tell me that Meimei's name _isn't _really Meimei."

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	4. Catch

**Catch**

_Toph was not happy. Toph was the opposite of happy._

_Bad enough that the note from her mother was a lie, and what had been waiting for her in Ba Sing Se was not a newly understanding parent but bounty hunters who wanted to drag her home where she would for all intents and purposes be imprisoned forever. Bad enough that the bounty hunters' chosen method of capture was locking her in a metal box for a full 36 hours with no potty breaks. Bad enough that once she freed herself by inventing Metalbending (okay, that part was pretty cool), she then had to make her own way back to Ba Sing Se through the wilderness. Bad enough that it had taken another day and a half of traveling just to reach the Outer Wall._

_Now she arrived to find the Fire Nation launching a full, multi-legion assault on the Impenetrable City, and from what she could feel at this distance, the Outer Wall wasn't quite as solid as it used to be._

_This whole week was lame._

_Just short of the Fire Army's back lines, Toph stopped, circled her fists over a small patch of earth, and carved a tunnel just big enough for herself. She crawled in without hesitation, and extended her tremor-sense up into the rock above her. She could feel the armored boots of hundreds of Firebenders, and the distant quakes of battle. Selecting one innocuous pair of boots almost directly above her, Toph made a waving motion with one hand and turned a small patch of the rock into a sandslide straight into her tunnel. As soon as the Firebender landed beside her, Toph pulled her arms together and sealed the rock back up, plunging her tunnel back into darkness and dusty stilled air._

_The Firebender's breathing became loud and tinged with moans. Good, she picked a claustrophobic one. Grabbing his armor hard enough to leave fingerprints in it, Toph said, "What's going up there? And make it quick, the air down here won't last long."_

* * *

"I have bad news and good news," General Uncle Iroh said as he climbed in through the window, the morning sunlight streaming around him.

On the abandoned Haiku Club's stage, a few steps away from where Iroh had appeared, Sokka and Zuko traded looks. "Yeah sure," Sokka sighed, "bad news first."

Iroh nodded and folded his hands together in his sleeves. "The bad news is that Azula and the Dai Li have locked down the full Upper and Middle Rings. I was able to find the Middle Ring Resistance movement's leader, General Xing of the Council of Five, but he doesn't want anything to do with me and won't accept my help. He _did _let slip," here, the old man paused and his face pinched up, "that the Fire Nation is waging a renewed attack on the Outer Wall, and with the help of a few Dai Li saboteurs, it looks like they'll succeed in breaking through. The Fire Nation will quickly take over the outer farms, allowing them to control all the food for the city. Azula can just let the people starve until the resistances all submit, or use the Fire Army to destroy her enemies and end the chaos in the Lower Ring."

Sokka tried to do the math. Iroh had just offered up a lot of details about current affairs, but it sounded to Sokka like an announcement that Azula was just a day away from completing her conquest of the Earth Kingdom's capital. "And what possible good news could there be to balance all that out?"

Iroh grinned. "Sneaking back here, I stopped by the Jasmine Dragon and found it abandoned, so I broke in to get us some tea! Not only did I claim a good serving set and some excellent blends, but I found a little scrounger in the building who agreed to help us." The old man turned back to the window he had crawled through. "Time to come in, my dear!"

An Earth Kingdom girl, more or less Sokka's age, eased through the window while holding a serving set for tea, with a wicker basket hanging on her arm. She... didn't look exactly like someone who could be of much help. She wore a plain robe that wouldn't have looked out of place in the Lower Ring, and didn't have any weapons on her. Of course, that didn't necessarily mean anything. She could have had a hundred knives hidden under that robe.

The thought made Sokka's stomach clench.

Zuko, apparently, wasn't having fun either. "J- Jin," he stuttered, his voice unusually light. Sokka looked at the Angry Jerk. His good eye was wide with surprise, his jaw was hanging open like a Swampbender yokel, and his hands were working like he wasn't sure if he was supposed to launch a Firebending offensive.

Sokka wished he had a brush and paper to capture the moment forever.

The girl gave the prince a cool look. "Hello. _Lee. _Or should I call you Zuko?"

Sokka blinked with confusion, but everyone ignored him. Iroh shrugged at his nephew and said, "I explained everything to her, including that we're fugitives. She agreed to help us."

Putting the tea stuff down on the stage, Jin looked at Zuko and offered a half of a smile. "You were right, it really was too complicated."

Sokka looked around at everyone and threw his hands up into the air. "Am I the only one who feels like I'm hearing half of a conversation? And not the first, establish-everything-in-its-proper context half, either!"

Jin finally faced him, and bowed politely. "Sorry. I'm Jin. I used to live in the Lower Ring, and went on a date with Zuko when he was pretending to be Lee, but I think he dumped me." Her eyes flickered over to Zuko, and the Angry Jerk actually blushed. In Sokka's considered opinion, the girl's coincidental presence was worth it for that alone. "Then my lodging was destroyed in the riots when the Fire Nation princess took over yesterday, so I hid in a merchant's cart and let him smuggle me out of the Lower Ring before the Dai Li locked the gates down. I've been sneaking around all night, trying to find someplace safe to hide out. What's _your _name and story?"

Sokka sighed. "I'm just this guy with a boomerang, living in the South Pole, right? The Avatar pops up out of the ice, makes goo-goo eyes at my sister, and the next thing I know we're following him around the world helping him to do this epic questy thing for freedom. It was actually kind of fun at times, except when Angry Jerk here attacked us."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Zuko growled.

Sokka rolled his eyes and turned back to Jin. "Anyway, everyone ditched me to go on some mini-vacations even though I had _just _arranged for us to take breaks before we got to the city. I was supposed to help invade the Fire Nation, because I'm our official plan guy, only this girl who I thought was my friend turned out to be an evil Fire Nation spy who played me like a whale-bone Pai Sho set that was missing two or three pieces, and when the Fire Princess took over, Angry Jerk and Uncle here grabbed me and helped me escape. I still don't really know what's up with them." Sokka ran a hand over his hair and Warrior's Wolf Tail. "I'm not having the best week."

Jin shrugged sheepishly. "Welcome to Ba Sing Se?"

Zuko blinked, and his anger faded from his face. "Wait, the Earth King was going to invade the Fire Nation? That doesn't make any sense. His forces would be completely crushed."

Sokka crossed his arms and scowled. "_You _don't make any sense! I thought you were bad guys! Since when are you hiding from the Fire Nation and helping me?!"

Ambling over to the serving set that Jin had brought, Iroh smiled and said, "I think it's time we talked and made some serious plans. But first, why don't I brew us a nice jasmine tea? All serious discussions are better with some good tea."

* * *

Mai strode into the throne room to find Azula and Ty Lee alone in the cavernous chamber. The Princess was leaning over a set of maps laid out on new table, while the other girl was (of course) playing with the Earth King's bear. Holding back a sigh, Mai went straight for the Princess. "I'm back."

"Ah, Mai, good morning," Azula said without even looking up. "How did the night patrol go?"

"Eh, we had some skirmishes with angry citizens and what seemed like a few quasi-organized rebel groups, if you can call anything in this city 'organized.' Some of the rebels got away, but we nailed most of them. The Dai Li are taking the non-Earthbenders and sticking in them in some caverns below the palace that they apparently used to keep secret prisoners in, and the Earthbenders are of course going in the metal cells. They said to warn you that at his rate, they're going to run out."

Azula traced a line on one map with a perfectly manicured finger. "Earthbenders, or cells?"

Mai started to smirk, but then realized that the question had been serious. "Cells. The palace was never meant to be used as a full prison system. I should know."

Azula sighed and finally looked up. "Very well. I'll have to start reviewing the prisoners and deciding which ones can be executed. Still, no reason to rush with that. I've received messages from both the Fire Army attacking the Outer Wall and the navy blockading the Serpent's Pass. We should have reinforcements very soon. Unless the Lower Ring folds easily, I expect the Navy will be the first ones here."

Mai walked over to the steps in front of the Badgermole Throne and lounged across them with a slump. "Looking forward to it. Once we have some help, maybe I can sleep in for a change. I'm pooped. And no, that doesn't mean I'm taking an extra turn with the bear."

"Speaking of your busy schedule," Azula said lightly, turning around to examine Mai where she sat, "I was wondering to Ty Lee how that Sokka boy wound up helping my brother and uncle to escape my trap, and after some... _discussion_, she mentioned that you spoke to Sokka after I briefed the Dai Li. I don't suppose you remember what you said to him, hm?"

You didn't have to be an expert on Azula to figure out what she was really saying. As far as Mai was concerned, the Princess might as well have gone ahead and declared, "Mai, I suspect you've been a naughty, naughty girl, although not in a way that would make me and my issues with men uncomfortable. You better have a good reason why I shouldn't go all Princess Psycho on you."

Mai very precisely quirked an eyebrow. "Of course I remember. I told him that his girlfriend Suki wanted to meet him for lunch in the Upper Ring. You know, to keep him away from you and Ty Lee in case he recognized you. I don't know what happened, but Sozin's Razor says he probably just spotted Zuko or Iroh on the palace grounds and got himself involved. I just went for a walk with the guy, I'm not his mother." No, his mother was dead.

Azula sighed and brushed her bangs away from her eyes. "Such a shame. If he hadn't revealed our presence, we would be in complete control of Ba Sing Se right now. Well, it might be taking longer, but nothing can stop me now."

* * *

While Iroh and Jin busied themselves scrounging up some water and brewing the tea, Sokka and Zuko sat next to each other on the stage and kept their eyes aimed in opposite directions. Uncle General Iroh said not to fight, so Sokka was biting back his questions about loyalties, allegiances, and unnecessarily complicated Fire Nation politics. Of course, it was the Angry Jerk who had to start something. "So, you said Mai pretended to be your friend?"

Sokka eyed the other boy. "Mai is Meimei?" At Zuko's blank stare, he said, "I told you already! The girl with the knives who was dressed up like a Kyoshi Warrior!"

Zuko nodded. "Mai is Meimei. She's been friends with Azula since we were all kids."

Sokka sighed and said, "Then yeah, she fooled me good. We talked, we fought together, and she even went out of her way to help protect the Invasion plans from the Dai Li. Well, that's what I thought she was doing at the time, but who knows what it was about? She must be stone cold to fake being my friend like that."

Zuko's voice was low, and lacked the heat it usually had. "She was a shy kid, always trying to keep people from knowing what she was really thinking and feeling. She got better at it as she grew up, but she never really seemed like the type to fake a connection. She just didn't care enough about anything to lie. I guess things changed since I last saw her."

The regret in Zuko's voice nearly knocked Sokka flat. Who knew the Angry Jerk had _feelings_? "You sound like you used to be fond of her."

Zuko snorted softly. "I guess you can say that. I don't know, I _think _she liked me, at least for a little while, but I don't know what that even really means. I guess I found her interesting in response. She started getting pretty as she grew up, and I liked that she was quiet and honest. That's just one more thing about home that's changed. And it's not an improvement."

Sokka knew all too well about how Home, the one place that should be safe in all the world, could turn into something ugly and hurtful. People talked about memories of happy times as sources of comfort and strength, but Sokka often thought that they were more like a stone stuck in his boot. Putting a hand on the prince's shoulder, he said, "That's rough, buddy."

"Thanks."

* * *

Satisfied with the lies, Azula had given Mai permission to take a nap. The knife-thrower hadn't wasted time in seizing the opportunity to escape, especially since she knew that Azula would probably be circling back at some point to the subject of Zuko's escape and Sokka's overly convenient, inconvenient appearance. With both boys safely escaped, Mai was now free to severely regret ever getting involved. What had possessed her to try to save Zuko? And why did she fixate on Sokka as the person she could count on to somehow get the job done?

Mai heard the sound of soft shoes tapping against the floor of the palace hallway, and she sighed as Ty Lee overtook her with a light sprint. "Mai!"

"That _is _my name, and I can't tell you how relieved I am that I don't have to answer to 'Meimei' anymore."

Ty Lee spun to a halt right in front of the knife-thrower. "You didn't tell the truth to Azula!"

Once again, she raised that eyebrow of hers. The thing should really be classified as a weapon. "Are you calling me a liar? How would you know? You were in the throne room with the Earth King when I talked with Sokka."

Ty Lee put her fists on her hips, gave the cutest little scowl that Mai had ever seen, and said, "I don't _care_ that you tried to save your friends! You know what? I'm _glad_ you finally care enough about people to do something other than sigh and stab stuff!" Her expression fell into a frown, and Mai could swear that Ty Lee's eyes began to water. "I'm just worried about _you_! You're in real danger, Mai."

Mai stepped around Ty Lee and left the acrobat standing in the hall. "You're the only thing that's dangerous to me right now, Ty. Maybe you should wonder about who _you _really care about, and what you want to do about it."

Mai had to work to keep a smile off her face. That had been a pretty badass-sounding threat. Hopefully Ty Lee would get it.

* * *

So, apparently, the whole _Thing _at the North Pole had left Zuko and Uncle General Iroh in the Fire Lord's bad graces, and they had been running away all this time. That would certainly explain why the pair had helped Team Avatar fight Azula in that ghost town that time, but otherwise had been as scarce lately as Katara's good sense. That was a relief, because the only possible reason Sokka could think of for them to betray him at this point was to earn their redemption, and Sokka himself was so insignificant that his capture or death wouldn't satisfy Azula. Hey, Sokka doubted the Princess even knew his name.

"So," the Water Tribe warrior asked, "what's our next move?"

"We leave the city," Zuko said. "There's no reason for us to stay at this point, and every reason to get out as soon as we can."

Iroh nodded thoughtfully.

Jin stared at the pair of them with wide eyes, then turned to Sokka. "You're a hero guy! You know we have to save the city!"

Sokka rubbed his chin. "Actually, I'm with Zuko's plan. We never even had a chance, here. Better to come back with the big guns, later. If we waste all our time fighting now, we'll miss our window for the Invasion. If Ba Sing Se can't help us, we'll go to other people who can."

Iroh's eyes narrowed on Sokka, but he said nothing.

Jin stared down into her teacup. "There has to be something we can do. So many people are suffering." Her lower lip quivered.

Zuko looked over at Jin, and Sokka couldn't help but think there was a bit too much intensity in the gaze. Oho, so Zuko was one of those guys who would do anything to stop a girl from crying, eh? Sokka had been inoculated against _that_ affect fairly early on. Katara cried as often as Sokka ate jerky. Which, admittedly, wasn't as often as he liked, lately. "Wellllllllllll," the Water Tribe warrior dragged out, "I _was _thinking that there's a potential ally still in the city who could help get a new Invasion plan off the ground, and he gets bonus points for being able to vouch for us with all the various Resistance movements. That should make getting out of the city safer, right?"

Zuko slowly took his eyes off of Jin, and turned an intent expression on Sokka. "Who do you have in mind?"

Sokka grinned. "The Earth King should be held somewhere in the palace." Waving his hands, he added, "I know, I know, it's going to be tough to get in and out, but I think there's a lot we could accomplish if we pull it off. All those palace guards are probably still there, maybe a general or two, and I'm hoping that Azula has at least three Kyoshi Warriors stashed somewhere. We could try taking a look, at least."

Iroh took a slow sip of his tea and said, "You mentioned a formal plan for this Invasion of yours. I wouldn't mind getting hold of the details of that. Even if we can't use them as they are, I would be very interested in seeing the specifics of what the Council of Five had in mind. Unless you can provide those?"

Sokka shook his head. "Broad strokes only. Those guys really know their mighty military minutia."

Jin looked around at everyone, her expression lightening, but she didn't quite smile. Sokka could understand; it was an exciting plan, but hope just got you hurt. "So you guys are really going to break into the palace and save the King?" Everyone traded glances, and nodded. "But how are we going to accomplish that?"

Iroh finished his tea and smiled. "I may not have been in Ba Sing Se very long, but I still had time to make some connections."

* * *

So it seemed that, in the single day that Iroh and Zuko had been serving tea in the Upper Ring (and Sokka had nearly fainted again when he realized that he and... _Mai _had passed the teashop on their walk back to the palace), the old Uncle General guy met a former palace Guardsman, named Quong, who had been fired after an incident with the Dai Li. The man had no love for the secret police after that, and apparently "didn't hold" with Fire Princesses, either. After sneaking to his house in the Middle Ring and having a short but very pleasantly informative conversation (even if they all had to drink more tea as part of it; Sokka was going to have sneak frequent potty breaks into their infiltration mission), they were ready to go.

First and most importantly, the main gate wasn't the only entrance to the palace. There was a small door on the east side of the Forbidden Palace complex reserved for the use of "Upper Ring party guests who had to leave discreetly and in a wheelbarrow." It had been added to the complex wall two centuries ago by an Earthbender architect in the employ of the palace staff, didn't appear in any official plans, and was known only to a secret order of servants and invitation-checking guardsmen who had to make use of it. The odds were good that the Dai Li didn't know about it, as their attentions were usually focused on the drunken party guests who could still speak coherently. Deciding that urgency was the overriding concern, and that Zuko and Iroh's literal fire-power would be more effective and useful during the day, the group of four (Sokka was thinking of re-appropriating the title of 'Team Boomerang,' since it had 'boom' in it) passed through the secret door during mid-afternoon.

Sokka peeked through the small, round doorway, looked left and right, and didn't see anyone around. The residential wing of the palace stood silent a quick sprint ahead. He raised his hand and motioned Jin forward. The girl walked calmly out onto the palace grounds, keeping her pace slow. Ex-Guardsman Quong had- and everyone thought it best not to ask how or why- a full female servant uniform in his possession. Unless the rest of the team found some additional uniforms while in the palace, Jin would be their point-person.

She stopped out in the middle of the courtyard stretch, took a long look around, and gave Sokka the "everything be cool" signal. He, Zuko, and Iroh all sprinted to the cover of the residential garden without incident. Crouching behind a bush shaped like a Lionturtle, Sokka tied a length of rope to his boomerang. He glanced at Zuko and Iroh. "That one," Zuko said as he pointed to a second-story window.

Iroh nodded his agreement. "There has not been a candle lit inside for at least a day. The room is cold."

Sokka gave his own nod of acknowledgement, spun the rope-and-boomerang like a grappling hook, and tossed it through the window. He didn't even hear it land. Slowly, carefully, Sokka began drawing the rope back. It didn't take long for the line to go taut, and then he gave it an extra hard tug.

It held.

Zuko climbed up first with Jin hanging on his back. Sokka pretended he wasn't crazy impressed by the display of strength. The Water Tribe warrior went up next, leaving Iroh behind to act as rearguard and hold their exit for them.

So far, so good. This infiltration stuff was actually pretty easy, with the right cheats. Hoisting himself up into the shadowy room, Sokka nearly crashed into Zuko and Jin standing stiffly right next to the window. He was about to ask what the big deal was when he saw what they were staring at.

The room was _occupied_.

To the left of the window where they had entered, a series of beds were in parallel against the wall. A girl lay sprawled on the closest, not even having bothered to climb under the covers. Nor had she bothered to change out of her Dai Li-fangirl outfit. She _had _apparently taken the time to remove a goodly supply of knife-straps, bolt-launchers, and razor-holsters, which were left piled on the nightstand beside the bed. Her breathing was deep and even.

It was Meimei. Er, Mai.

Jin raised both eyebrows, pointed at the bedroom door, pointed at the window, and then shrugged. Zuko nodded, pointed to the window, and made as to leave, but Sokka brushed past him and walked quietly over to the bed. He could feel the gaze of the other two teens on his back.

Sokka stared down at Mai. Even in sleep, she was precisely groomed, not a hair out of place. She looked more fragile and thin outside of the Kyoshi armor, but given how she fought, Sokka knew it was an illusion. The only things marring the peaceful display was the way Mai's face was pinched tight, and the movement of her jaw as she ground her teeth together in her sleep. Even that was silent.

Slowly, Sokka moved to the nightstand. The top shelf held all her weapons, which Sokka began appropriating, wrapping them around himself as best he could fit them. He especially liked the look of the little dart-launchers for both his wrists and ankles. The second shelf held a Kyoshi Warrior dress, although the fans and armor weren't in evidence. Sokka rummaged through the green dress and- oh slush- undergarments, which thankfully weren't warm, but didn't find any clues as to what might have happened to the real Kyoshi Warriors.

The bottom shelf held two sets of boots. One pair was lighter and thinner, but was still tall enough to support the ankle and leg. The other pair was thicker, especially in the sole, and very familiar to Sokka. He had worn a similar pair when he trained with Suki on Kyoshi Island. He checked both boots.

In the latter pair, he found a piece of paper with the full plans for the Day of Black Sun Invasion.

That...

That!

That lying, slush-soaked, traitorous _tundra-cat!_

Biting back his anger, Sokka stuffed the plans into his own boot, and moved back over to Zuko and Jin. Mai slept on as they snuck out of the room.

* * *

Azula tapped her chin as she sat on the Badgermole Throne and listened to the Dai Li agent's droning. She knew this report was important, since the timing of the arrival of the Fire Navy's reinforcements would affect how she applied them to finally pacifying this sprawl of a city, but one of the many subprocesses she was constantly running in her mind had picked up on a troublesome out-of-place detail that it flagged as suspicious. The last time she got a feeling like this, the Avatar and his soldiers had infiltrated War Minister Qin's ridiculous giant drill and sabotaged its inner mechanisms.

This is why being perfect was so handy.

Holding up a hand to silence the Dai Li agent, Azula turned to where Ty Lee was still playing with the bear off to the side from the throne. "Ty, is it just me, or has the bear been making more noises than usual over the last few minutes?"

From her handstand, Ty Lee quirked her head. "I guess?" Even as she spoke, the bear pointed its nose at the door to the throne room and made a contented-sounding rumble.

Azula nodded and turned back to the Dai Li agent. "Have the palace swept, and I want to be notified immediately of any irregularities. Now, you may finish your report."

* * *

Sokka had to admit that Zuko was a wonder to behold. Well, now that Zuko was more or less on his side, he could admit that. Before, he wouldn't have felt any obligation. Anyway, what the guy lacked in brains and the ability to launch a frontal assault on an Airbender, he made up for in sneaking ability and a knack for taking out guards quickly and silently. It was almost scary. With Jin scouting ahead for them, they made quick time to the dungeons. Sokka didn't have to do anything but tag along and hide unconscious and/or tied-up bodies.

It helped that security was much lighter than it had been before Azula's coup. Good, traitorous help was hard to find, apparently.

They reached the entrance to the high security cells, and Zuko finished the Dai Li guard by slamming the guy's head into the metal door. The agent dropped and stayed still.

Okay, time to free some royalty.

* * *

"Agent Zhuang?"

"Yes, Agent Laotao?"

"Perhaps it's just me, but I would have expected to see more people in this section of the palace."

The taller Dai Li agent considered that. "Well, we're light on help right now. I expect we'll be seeing a lot of new hires, soon."

The shorter, plumper agent nodded. "True, but of the agents we _do _have around here, it seems only logical to leave at least one or two on the path to the dungeons. It's common sense."

"You raise an excellent point, Agent Laoato. Care to extend our sweep to the dungeons themselves?"

"I would be delighted, Agent Zhuang. Care to wager on what we find?"

"Ooh, you tempter."

* * *

"Oh my," the Earth King said. "That's a lot of prisoners."

Sokka ran his gaze over the metal cells. While the hallway itself was regular palace construction, the cells that were set into the walls were made entirely of bolted metal, including the doors. The dark green decor mixed with the dull gray of the metal to make for a very depressing, dungeon-y feel. He supposed that was deliberate. "Well, your entire guard force _was _Earthbenders, right? And I ask that rhetorically, because I do remember them throwing rocks at my head when Team Avatar came to politely let you know that your Grand Secretariat was a corrupt liar."

Zuko held up the key he took from the last Dai Li guard. "Let's get started. I'll open the doors, you guys keep watch."

"And then," the Earth King prompted, watching as Zuko open the first door and moved quickly the next in line.

Sokka shrugged. "We get _you_ out of the palace. I was hoping to take some Kyoshi Warriors with us, but they're not in this dungeon." He clamped down on the worry he felt for Suki. Now was not the time to indulge, even if it had his stomach in knots so tight that he actually wasn't hungry for once. "I figure General How can be trusted to figure out what the rest of these guys can accomplish. Escape on their own or overthrow Azula, either way, I'm good."

* * *

Zhuang pulled back from the hallway corner. "I saw the Earth King, the Water Tribe guy, and Princess Azula's brother. They're freeing all the Earthbender prisoners."

Laotao grimaced. "I really thought the Resistance would have tried something by now."

"Ah, but you haven't been watching the Avatar's group like I have," Zhuang chided. "They have a habit of poking things at the worst possible time."

"Fair enough, Agent Zhuang. Since I lost the bet, I guess I'm watching them and, if necessary, holding them off while you tell the Princess."

"Don't die, Agent Laotao."

"Never my intention, Agent Zhuang."

* * *

"All right," Sokka called out to the group of Earthbenders. General How silenced them with a glare, and then nodded to Sokka. For a guy who had been impotently imprisoned for the last day, he was taking his rescue surprisingly well. Sokka continued, "Me and my friends are going to move out ahead of you guys with the Earth King. Once we're out of sight, you guys go do... whatever it is you're going to do. Try to stay out of the residential wing of the palace. We'll get the Earth King to safety, then make contact with General Xing's resistance force tomorrow, so leave a message with him if you manage to liberate the Upper Ring and we don't notice. Any questions? All right, then we're going to move on ou-"

The opening salvo of the attack was a Dai Li agent who zoomed past Sokka in an Earthbending skid and clouted him just behind the ear with a stone glove.

Sokka dropped to the ground against his will, and all reality went wacky. Sounds echoed unnaturally, and his vision couldn't quite focus as he tried to track the attacking Dai Li agent running up the walls and staying in constant motion. Sokka tried unsuccessfully to get to his feet (for some reason, his limbs weren't quite working), and wondered why no one was doing anything about the guy, when cries of pain revealed the answer. The Dai Li must have been shooting his stone glove pieces in a wide scatter at all the Earthbender guardsmen. Without armor, they were extra vulnerable to the small dark pieces of stone. And as Earthbenders, Sokka had never been impressed with their ability.

Unable to get back up, his head ringing and still racked with pain, Sokka tried looking around for his friends. The Earth King was curled up in a ball on the ground; that was good, that would have been Sokka's advice for him anyway. Zuko was leaping up and punching fireballs at the Dai Li agent, another good thing. He couldn't spot Jin, but General How was back on his feet wielding a shield made from the stone prison walls. The General and was shouting... something, Sokka's ears were still ringing... at the other guards.

Sokka tried crawling away, but he was moving slowly, and it seemed like the shadows themselves were buffeting him. This was a _really _bad headache.

Then he realized that the shadows were more Dai Li robes.

Uh oh.

Seeing them going for Zuko but unable to get up properly, Sokka raised his arms, clicked down in the triggers built into his new wrist-launchers, and unloaded all of Mai's miniature bolts into the streaming Dai Li agents. "_Zuko, run!_" The launchers clicked empty, so Sokka reached for some knives and began flinging them at anything that looked like a Dai Li robe. His vision was still funny and he was probably missing with every throw, but it was the thought that counted.

And the distraction.

* * *

Zuko and Jin pulled the Earth King around the hallway corner and paused. The Prince caught sight of a door and didn't hesitate to barge right in and drag his two companions with him. Fortunately, the tastefully decorated room was empty. Even better, it was a receiving parlor not unlike the one where Azula had ambushed him and Uncle the day before. That meant that they were finally back in the residential wing. Looking to Jin, he asked, "Did you see Sokka?"

Panting for breath, Jin shook her head. "He went down after that first Dai Li attacked. I wouldn't have been able to find you if you hadn't been shooting fire everywhere. I only heard him yell."

Zuko paused. Sokka had been an enemy in the past, but he was currently just as much a victim of Azula's manipulations as the Prince himself, and he had been a capable ally over the last day. It wouldn't be honorable to just leave him in the palace. On the other hand, this whole thing would be for nothing if they didn't get the Earth King out of here.

Silent in his indecision, reality made the choice for him. Through the door of their chosen hideaway, Zuko heard the incoming sound of heavy military boots in a run, and the clanking of full armor. Zuko knew those sounds intimately. They were the noises made when a large group of Firebender soldiers were on the move.

Azula's reinforcement had arrived.

That was that, then. "We can't do anything for Sokka now. We have to get out of here while we still have a shot." Pulling the Earth King along again, Zuko made for the room's other door, which would hopefully lead them deeper into the residential area and to a window they could use to escape.

This was why Zuko hated plans. There was hardly ever any point in them.

* * *

Mai woke up early in the evening feeling quite refreshed. She was surprised that she had been allowed to sleep that long, but she wasn't complaining. She had a feeling she would be on the night shift for a while, anyway, whether or not Azula got her reinforcements. Reaching out into the darkness, Mai grabbed for her knives.

The stand beside her bed was empty.

Curious but not alarmed, Mai slowly made her way to the mirror-desk across the room. Her spark rocks were in the top shelf where she left them, and she used them to light a torch on the wall. Under the golden light, her eyes scanned the room and immediately noticed the small splash of blue by the window. She moved toward it.

It was a small right angle of metal, colored blue and white. A rope was tied through one of its holes, and the device itself was lodged beneath the inside of windowsill. She didn't know what it was called, but she recognized the weapon immediately. It was the returning-throwing-thing that Sokka used.

_He_ had been in _her room_, and had stolen her weapons.

A chill ran up Mai's spine.

Mai immediately ran out of her room, looking for Azula. The Princess wasn't hard to find; Mai just had to follow the damage.

"Ah, Mai," Azula said from the center of a cluster of Dai Li agents and Firebender soldiers. "Too bad you couldn't join us this afternoon."

Mai eyed the broken walls and floors, and the singe marks that even reached up to the ceiling. "What in the name of the First Fire happened here?"

"It seems that my brother has thrown in with the local resistance forces. He freed the Earth King, and led a prison break out of the Earthbender dungeon. If the Firebenders hadn't been arriving, we would have had a real problem." Azula's eyes narrowed. "As it is, General How escaped through a hole in the floor, along with over half the Guardsmen. The Upper Ring is now officially unsecured again. There is an upside, though. Come with me." She made a motion to a nearby Firebender, and left him to march off deeper into the dungeons.

Confused, Mai followed Azula to a lonely wing with only one locked cell. Azula opened it with a key she wore around her neck, and led Mai into the darkness.

Sokka was lying in the center of the metal room, tied up. He wasn't moving and his eyes were closed. Mai wasn't surprised to find that he was wearing all of her knife-holders, but they had been emptied of actual weapons.

"Now," Azula said, "why don't you explain to me how he got into the palace without the Dai Li detecting, wearing your weapons." The Princess kicked the metal door closed, and someone locked it from the other side.

Oh, _ashes._

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	5. Stress

**Stress**

_Katara ignored the men watching behind her and got on with her Waterbending practice. They all remembered how, as a little girl, she played with her "magic water" and had accidents revolving around freezing and thawing ice at inconvenient times, and they were clearly impressed by how far she had come. Katara had to admit that she was pleased with the respectful attention, that they were giving her a chance to preserve a nearly extinct aspect of their culture. She really appreciated the trust, and if she could reward it by doing a flaring stream above her head that caught the sun in a rainbow of colors, well, it was the least she could do._

_She heard footsteps on the sand behind her, and turned to see Dad walking up with a scroll in his hands. "What's up?"_

_He motioned to the scroll. "Word from Ba Sing Se. Princess Azula of the Fire Nation is trying to launch a coup, and scouts have reported ships with reinforcements landing at the city."_

_Katara's arms dropped, and her Bending water splattered all around her like a sudden rain. "Oh no! Sokka's still in the city!"_

_Hakoda's eyes went hard. "The Fire Nation has made a tactical error. Between the ships you helped us take out the other day, and the ones diverted to Ba Sing Se, the Fire Nation's Western Fleet is underpowered on this shore. We can hit them hard, and if we need to keep drilling through all the way to Ba Sing Se itself, that's what we'll do to get to Sokka."_

_Katara nodded to that and then reached a hand out to her father. She hesitated mid-movement, but then pushed through it and took his hand in her own. "I'm sorry I didn't understand, before. Why you had to leave us. Helping others is a job that doesn't end."_

_Hakoda smiled and pulled her into a hug. "You understood. You just had to heal from how much it hurt, but I always knew you were strong, deep in your heart."_

_Tears filled Katara's eyes, and as usual, she didn't care who saw._

* * *

This? This is why it was _always _a bad idea to stick your neck out for someone else. Mai did it just once (secretly, even!) and now Azula suspected her of everything that didn't go according to the Princess' meticulous plans, up to and including crazy Water Tribe boys masterminding breakouts from right under the Princess' royal nose. Would Azula accept even Mai's most truthful answers? Well, there was one way to find out.

Mai stood in the center of the metal cell with Sokka tied up at her feet, and Azula standing between her and the locked door. She met the Princess' gaze and said, "Look, I know I messed up. I know it. I'm good at throwing knives, but when it comes to manipulating people and pretending to be something I'm not, I'm out of my depth. And I let that influence how I dealt with the Water Tribal, here. I tried to deflect his presence instead of confronting it, and because of that, he messed up your plans. Believe me, I _am _sorry."

Azula looked at Mai with probing eyes. "And how did this Sokka get your weapons today? He used them to secure Zuko's escape. You _did _used to be rather fond of my brother, at one point. You have to admit, it's strange that the two would be working together so well in regards to foiling my plans. As far as we know, they had no contact between the battle in the ghost town and our coup here."

Mai looked Azula right in golden, accusing eyes and said, "You know what I woke up to just now? All my weapons were missing from where I put them on the nightstand right next to my bed. There was a throwy-comeyback metal thing tied like a grappling hook in my room. This savage must have..." Mai swallowed and didn't do anything to repress the revulsion she felt. "He could have _touched_ me while I slept! With his _hands_! Do you know how much _mud _is probably caked on his skin? What if he got mess on my hair? Now I have to take a long bath." She blinked as another thought occurred to her. "Do Water Tribals know to wash their hands after going to the bathroom? Oh, I think I'm going to be sick..."

Azula stepped towards Mai, her demeanor coldly intense. The Princess looked straight into her eyes, seeking out Mai's dusty old soul, and her fiery gaze poked at the truth with a sharp, manicured fingernail. Mai could feel the stress of the situation, of the sum of all her mistakes while in Ba Sing Se, exploding in her stomach. This was the moment of truth. There was one other thing she could do. Reluctantly, she remembered back to the bucket she had to use as a bathroom in the Lower Ring the other day; she recalled how smelly it was, how old it looked, and that a boy had just used it ahead of her. Then she thought of that same boy licking her feet while she slept, with a lust for revenge in his heart.

Azula took another step towards Mai, and the knife-thrower promptly vomited all over the Princess. "_Ick,_" Azula hissed, looking down at her stained tunic with wide, scared eyes. "_Ick ick ick ick. Ick!_"

"Sorry," Mai gagged.

* * *

Life in the Upper and Middle Rings had always been quiet, or so Zuko had been led to believe. The Upper Ring's denizens were all either old-money aristocrats or newcomers to the city whose rise had been sponsored by their betters. The Middle Ring was more open, but things were still so regimented that the houses were awarded based on personal accomplishments and usefulness to the government. Both systems were an effective way to maintain a status quo.

Then, of course, Azula had come to town. In the wake of that little revelation, things had been quiet only because everybody was afraid to leave their homes and get accused by the Dai Li of being traitors or members of the Resistance. Since Zuko had worked with Sokka to stage a prison break in the Earth King's palace itself, though, freeing a small legion of Earthbender guards, the Middle and Upper Rings had become a bit more lively.

Zuko, Uncle, Jin, and the Earth King made their way quickly down an empty street. In the distance were the unmistakable sounds of combat-Earthbending, but the noises faded as the group moved away. Crossing a broad street, they passed onto the sprawling campus of Ba Sing Se University. Looking around, Zuko turned to Uncle and hissed, "Which building?"

The older Firebender pointed. "The student center. General Xing will meet us there in an hour." Zuko nodded. The campus had been closed since Azula's coup, so Zuko imagined that the Resistance was making frequent use of its facilities. Certainly, it was the closest thing to a defendable fortress that the city had outside of the Forbidden Palace. He expected that some of the dormitories had been turned into hideouts by their student residents, although as far as Zuko knew, it was just as likely that they were holding a week-long 'We're All Going to Die' party. The small group made their way into the dark building, and settled down to wait in the fancy foyer. Zuko did a quick reconnaissance of the facility and then came back and sat down at the base of a statue of a figure dressed like an astronomer of some kind.

Now, all he had to do was wait.

No matter how good he was getting at it, Zuko would always hate waiting.

Jin sat down next him. Zuko stiffened at her physical proximity and kept his eyes on Uncle and the Earth King where they were standing. "So," she began, "after we hand... the _King_... to the Resistance, you guys are leaving?"

Uncle stroked his beard. "It would be wise to arrange for the possibility."

The Earth King looked at them all with surprise. "What about Sokka?"

Zuko grimaced. He still wasn't sure how he felt about that. "I doubt Azula will let us just stroll back into the palace for him. Maybe the Resistance can do something."

"On the other hand," Uncle said slowly, as if he was approaching a brand new thought, "he's an ally of the Avatar. Doing something to help Sokka would be an excellent peace offering."

Zuko felt himself rising to his feet. "Uncle! You aren't seriously-"

"_Zuko._" At Uncle's soft interjection, the Prince immediately fell silent. "Perhaps we should discuss some of this later. In any event, if the Earth King can vouch for us with the Resistance, and also Azula cannot hold the city, I wouldn't mind reclaiming my teashop. As I said, arranging an escape that we may decide later we don't need cannot hurt."

Zuko wanted to say more, to question what helping to chase the Fire Nation out of Ba Sing Se would mean for their lives and allegiances, to ask why they would want to make a peace-offering to the Avatar, but he held his tongue. Uncle was right on one point, at least- the Earth King's company was not the place to be calmly discussing (or loudly arguing) the matter.

Zuko sat down again, and Jin leaned lightly against him.

* * *

One washing and scrubbing session later, Mai and Azula emerged from the palace's bathhouse in brand new tunics. Mai was disappointed to see that they were still the green Dai Li assistant uniforms that they had been using since the Fire Nation girls ditched the Kyoshi Warrior disguises, but at least the amount of green was minimized in favor of black. "Sorry," she said again. "I hate throwing up, never mind on royalty."

Azula sighed and spoke for the first time since said upchucking incident. "There's no need to _ever _mention it again." Her eyes moved to catch Mai's, and she said, "Look, Mai, we all have to go beyond ourselves in order to serve the Fire Nation. I strive to outdo myself everyday. You didn't handle the Sokka situation the way I wanted, but that wasn't because you messed up. It's because you didn't push yourself to the great heights I think you're truly capable of. You're not on my level, but that doesn't mean I won't call on you to do something other than fight for me. Don't let me think that you're not striving the way we need to. That's all I ask."

Mai stopped and bowed formally to her friend. "Thank you for your help and understanding. I promise to do better."

Azula nodded. "Excellent. Now, it's late. I need to give Captain Tzun instructions on how to deploy his Firebenders, and handle a few other little tasks, and then I should go to bed. You and Ty Lee shall cover the night shift. Wake me if any important decisions need to be made. You can find your weapons in our room. Don't threaten any of the Dai Li with them, they might still be touchy about what Sokka did with them."

"Goodnight," Mai said, and watched as her Princess left for the throne room. Then she spun on her heel and headed straight for her room. She shouldn't have been surprised to find it occupied, but then, it was hard to expect when you were expecting Ty Lee.

The acrobat was sitting in what looked like a triple-knotted lotus position on one of the three beds. "Did you and Azula have a nice bath?"

Mai didn't answer. She went straight for her nightstand. Her blades were all piled up without care, and the straps of her holsters were tangled together. Typical.

"Fine," Ty Lee huffed. "Be that way. You've been such a grouch lately. _More _than usual. Grouchy."

Mai sighed, took her mess of holsters, and sat on her bed to start untangling them. "I'm sorry." Mai looked up. Ty Lee was blinking at her. "You were right," she continued. "I need help to accomplish what I wanted without getting myself and other people killed doing it."

Mai was savvy enough to put her untying efforts down before Ty Lee landed on her in a tackle-hug that bounced them both off the bed's mattress onto the floor. Still gripping her, Ty Lee cried, "_OhMaiIforgiveyouIforgiveyouI forgiveyouIforgiveyou!_"

Mai sighed, and hugged Ty Lee back.

* * *

Azula was a perfectionist. She knew that. She reveled in it. But that didn't make her crazy. She was more than capable of realizing when a situation wasn't salvageable, and cutting her losses. Anything else would be a complete disconnect from reality, and as long as she had her Father's highest regards, this reality was the best possible place she could ever be.

Father himself had to make choices, mitigate losses, and deal with life's setbacks. That's what made him so great. How long did he fail to achieve his dream of becoming Fire Lord, only to eventually get everything he wanted in a single night with no one in a position to question his will? Azula's only ambition in life was to honor her father's favor, and she felt a genuine smile strike her face as she thought of the praise she would earn for her new plan.

In the end, Ba Sing Se wasn't very important at all. It would be nice to have, but Sozin's Comet and its legendary power were coming soon, and nothing could stand in the Fire Nation's way by then. For now, she had her original mission, and a more general obligation to thwart the enemies of the Fire Nation. She didn't need to conquer Ba Sing Se to do that.

"We don't need to conquer Ba Sing Se?" Captain Tzun's face echoed the confusion in his voice.

Azula kept her nice smile. "It was worth an attempt, Captain, but let's be realistic. We don't have the King or any of the military commanders, the Resistance has only managed to consolidate itself against our attempts to break it apart, and... well, you've seen the reports from the Outer Wall, hm?"

Tzun shivered. "Do you believe the rumors about the tiny Earthbending Spirit of Death?"

Azula shrugged. "I'm sure there's something out there, but if it's not the Avatar, I don't particularly care. The fact remains that we don't have the numbers to properly pacify this city, and attempting to get them will be an exercise in inefficiency. Ba Sing Se is already so isolated from the rest of the Earth Kingdom that I hardly think wasting our Nation's time and resources is the best way to prepare for the Comet, don't you agree?"

Captain Tzun took a moment to consider that, and then nodded. Of course. "I see your point, Princess. This could become the worst tactical quagmire of the last century."

Azula's smile brightened even further. "Oh, but I want it to be. Just not for us."

Tzun stared blankly. Of course. "I'll be making arrangements," she said, "to keep an insurgency in the city for the Earth King to deal with, but why stop there? We have some time yet, before we withdraw. There are many ways to make sure that Ba Sing Se's resources will be tied up for the foreseeable future. For example, Captain Tzun, you have experience with urban warfare. What can you have your soldiers set on fire that cannot be easily replaced?" She motioned towards the detailed map of Ba Sing Se between them.

Realization dawned in Tzun's eyes. He gained a smile of his own, and said, "Well, most of the city's wealth is tied up in Upper Ring property. We could start there. In the Middle Ring, it would be best to start with the University, then move out to the most important shops." Learning over the map, he went on, "And we still have a small window in which we can push a covert team through the Lower Ring into the farmland, and burn as much of that as we can. It might even distract the defenders of the Outer Wall, buying us a little more time."

Azula nodded with satisfaction. "I can see that you're just the man for the job, Captain. You have free reign to do what you can. Begin immediately, and have a full briefing prepared for me by morning. I'll see what I can do arrange a distraction to cover your activities."

* * *

Mai could only do so much hugging before she maxed out. "Okay, Ty, time to let go. The Water Tribal was walking on this floor before, and I just bathed."

Ty Lee let go, but the intensity of the wide, innocent gaze she turned on Mai more than made up for the slack. "What are you going to do about him?"

Mai rolled her eyes and stood up. "What makes you think I should do something? He saved Zuko. That's already better than I was expecting." She spun around to point at Ty Lee. "And I _don't _want to hear anything about Zuko. I just didn't like the thought of the Dai Li getting him. They're creepers."

Ty Lee stood up and grabbed Mai's finger with both hands. "And you don't think you should at least say thank you for that? That's not polite! Come on, Mai, I saw his aura when he pulled him away. He likes you."

Mai couldn't suppress a snort. "I think he was actually talking about Suki at the time. You know, his girlfriend. Or are you implying that he just has a clown fetish?"

"Oh, I know about _Suki_," Ty Lee grinned. "His aura changes color when he mentions her name. He has the _loveliest_ little teenage infatuation, but he's still a little shy with the thought of her. It's _so_ cute!" The acrobat settled into what looked like a daydream, and Mai tried to take the opportunity to pull away, but Ty Lee kept a firm grip on her pointer-finger. "Anyway, he had a different aura for _you_. He thought of you as a friend. Like, really. I bet he was totally impressed with your abilities and intelligence and stuff!"

Mai brought up her other hand, raised its pointer finger, and jabbed the very tip of Ty Lee's nose. The acrobat squealed and let go of her. Turning back to the bed and the tangled holsters on it, Mai said, "Well, that was pretty stupid of him, then. And he seems to be over it, or did you not hear about how he broke into this room, watched me sleep, and stole all my knives? He's as creepy as the Dai Li."

"Don't you see?!" Ty Lee jumped onto the bed, but somehow managed to land without as much of a bounce as Mai expected. "That's because he's mad at you! He feels betrayed! You need to tell him that you're sorry for tricking him, and say thank you for saving Zuko. Otherwise, you'll lose his friendship! _Forever._"

Mai snorted again at the thought. Ty Lee continued to stare at her.

* * *

Azula didn't believe in fate, just measurable levels of chance, and always had a strong appreciation for when chance came out in her favor. Earlier that day, Zuko and his friends had freed almost all the prisoners, but there had been one cell in the dungeon that they had skipped over. It made sense, of course, given the history between this captive and the Water Tribe boy. She imagined that he barely had spared a sarcastic comment for the prisoner before moving on to more likely ally. Smart of him.

Ultimately futile, though.

Azula stopped in front of the metal door and looked through its barred window. "I'm sorry it's taken so long to get to you. Honestly, I was hoping to impress you with everything I accomplished before releasing you and giving you your due, but I'm afraid that circumstances have fallen short. I need your help."

Long Feng looked up at her from the cell's shadows. "What kind of help?"

* * *

Mai was _not _concerned about what Sokka thought about her. She just wanted to make sure that if Azula interrogated him, he didn't blab about being set up to save Zuko. Purely practical.

Since the Unfortunate Vomiting Incident, Sokka had been moved out of his metal Earthbender cell into a more mundane affair. Apparently, once upon a time (or two), the rulers of Ba Sing Se had indulged in hobbies much less innocent than playing with bears. Sokka was stood up in the center of a mostly innocuous room in the palace's third sub-basement, his arms spread in opposite directions by chains bolted to the walls. A few large urns were scattered about, and Mai didn't want to know if they were empty or not. She paid only a little more attention to the racks of metal 'toys' near the door, but that was just to reassure herself that there was still a thick coating of dust on them.

Okay, maybe not so innocuous.

Sokka watched her silently as she approached him, and his face was as unreadable as Mai always made her own. That mattered little, though; Mai had never been good at small talk, no matter how receptive the subject. "Hello," she said. When he didn't answer, she added, "I see they bandaged your head. That's good?"

"Seriously?"

She almost jumped at the crack in his voice. "What?"

"This," he said, motioning at her as well as he could with his chained hands. "I'm in an honest-to-spirits _torture chamber _because of you, and you're just going to come in here all, 'Hello, can we be polite?' No! No, we cannot be polite! Try. Again."

"Hey," Mai barked, "what would you prefer? I brought my knives- thanks for putting them back where you found them- so if you want, I could just go ahead and torture you."

Sokka made a disgusted sound. "You _do _look like the type."

"Pf, hardly." He didn't respond to that. Mai was kind of disappointed. She felt like she somehow failed to hold up her end of the conversation. "Look, I didn't come here to argue. I came to..."

Sokka's eyebrows rose in a _most _impolite manner. "You came to?"

Mai looked at one the urns, and ignored everything in her peripheral vision. "I... appreciate your... helping Zuko."

He blinked. "I did what now?"

Her gaze snapped back to him. "Helped Zuko? You know, when Azula tried to trap him?"

He blinked again. And again. And again. "You mean you're _thanking _me for falling for your lies, so that I could save Zuko for you, leading directly to Azula capturing me and planning on doing who knows what to me for revenge?"

Well, when he put it that way, it sounded kind of ridiculous. Still, Mai was in this far. "Yes. Thank you." More silence. Mai was getting really frustrated. She tightened her gaze on him, trying to figure out what he was thinking. She was startled to realize that his expression looked uncannily like Azula's plotting face. Mai saw that face sometimes in her nightmares.

"Why," he finally ventured, "did you do it?"

She shrugged. "You were the only one available, and I figured you could handle it."

"No." He shook his head. "Why did you try to save Zuko? I mean, you were saving him from Azula. Isn't she your boss? Your friend?"

Why was he asking about this? "That Waterbender, she's your family?"

"My sister."

"Do you like her?"

"She's _my sister._"

Mai sighed. "Whatever. But, would you want her to be an enemy to one of your other friends? Would you be okay with her Waterbending your little Earthbender friend? The short boy?"

"Toph's a girl."

"_Whatever._" She wrapped her arms around herself, but only because it was somewhat cold this deep under the palace. "Would you be okay with them fighting?"

Sokka didn't answer, despite her demand, but his face did go back to its scary plotting expression. "So you want to return the favor? For helping Zuko?"

Mai shook her head. "I can't get you out of here."

He actually barked a laugh at that. "Well, there goes most of my motivation to be polite, here. But really, do you want to do something to pay me back? Something little?"

She didn't like the sound of this, but perhaps she could get him to throw in his silence as part of the deal. "What do you have in mind?"

His gaze grew even more intent, and he leaned forward as far as the chains would allow. "Where are the real Kyoshi Warriors?"

Ah. Now Mai understood. She should have expected this. "By now, they're probably in the Fire Nation. Most of the warriors are to be held in a standard-security prison on Ling Yu Island. They'll be with lots of other captured Earth Kingdom fighters. The leader, though, is going to the Boiling Rock. It's a maximum security prison. _The _maximum security prison. People don't escape. She'll be with a mix of prisoners."

Sokka's face was strange mix of fear and relief. "Why?"

Mai's lip almost quirked. "She resisted Azula a little too vigorously during the initial interrogations. Azula wants to break her spirit, and there's nothing like an unbeatable prison to do that."

He blinked rapidly in response to that, shifting his gaze to his feet, and Mai suddenly became uncomfortable again. She hoped he wasn't crying. That would be... awkward. Yes, awkward. "It's not as bad as it sounds," she found herself saying. "My uncle runs the Boiling Rock. It's true that no one can get out, and the guards deal harshly with people who disobey the rules, but he keeps things disciplined on both sides of the population. If I had to be a prisoner somewhere, it would be my choice. She'll be safe as long as she behaves."

Sokka nodded at that, sniffled, and then looked up with his face back under control. "I'll keep that in mind. Thanks."

Mai nodded. "Are we even?"

"Psh, not even close," he chuckled. "But I appreciate it. What's going to happen to me?"

"I don't know." Mai shifted to look back at her favorite urn. "Listen, if you could _not _mention either this, or... the way I got you to do me that first favor... I'll see about keeping you treated okay. Maybe... maybe I can recommend to Azula that you be sent to the Boiling Rock yourself?"

"What?"

"_What?_"

He looked agog at her. "Do you really think that's actually a _favor? _Gah, everyone in the Fire Nation is nuts. No wonder you act like a tundra-cat."

"Oh, now we're back to the childish belligerence." Turning around, Mai muttered, "I need to get some new friends."

"You need to stop _betraying the ones you have to Azula!_"

"Lick some ash!" She stomped out of the room and headed straight for the stairs that would take her back to the palace proper. She was halfway there when she realized she was smirking.

_That _wasn't a good sign.

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	6. Concealed Weapon

**Concealed Weapon**

_The Last Airbender swirled in the void, cut off from all reality, but he did not panic. He might have, before coming to the Eastern Air Temple and meeting Guru Pathik, but all that he had learned since then was more than enough preparation for leaving physical perception behind completely._

_"Good, Avatar Aang, good," a nonexistent energy that Aang chose to perceive as sound said. "Will yourself to the highest point of the cosmos, to the spot where even the stars are as sands scattered beneath your feet."_

_Aang did so, pushing the whole of reality in a direction that could have been called 'down' if he had a body against which to orient._

_"Yes, that's it. Now focus on it, seeing into it, through it, beyond it. Do you sense the infinite connections running through?"_

_They were like bolts of lightning, quick and full of energy, but they did not flee and hide in the ground like lightning. These bolts took great effort to break._

_"Those connections are the true definition of reality. You are bound to each of your friends by one, and also to your enemies, and anyone you have ever met. They, in turn, are bound to the people in their own lives, and so on, drawling lines across the entire world. You will learn to touch anyone, and trace their connections to any other person on the earth."_

_It was true; everything was connected in the most fundamental way._

_"And then, as you grow in body and wisdom, you will learn to read the connections, perceive how they pull and push on each other even across voids. Although not as bright, the connections between the connections can be even more telling."_

_It was hard, but Aang almost thought he felt a gravity between the lightning lines, a searching tug like when the earth tried to pull him out of the sky._

_"As an exercise, let us look at the most powerful network of connections. Look at the war you are fighting. See how its lines cross the entire globe, and touch everyone? This, of course, is not news to you. But try to feel the connections between the connections, and seek out the most powerful gravities. The greatest of them will be the shatterpoint of the entire war, which in turn is the shatterpoint of the world itself. That is where the Avatar is most needed. Can you feel it, in our mountaintop sanctuary? Can you feel it, so far above the stars?"_

_Aang could. He could feel it, and it didn't seem very far away at all._

* * *

In the morning, Azula came back for him. The only thing Sokka wasn't clear on was just how bad a sign this was.

"Ah, here's out prisoner," the Princess of Freaky Blue Fire cooed as she stepped into the old torture chamber. Silently trailing behind her were Mai- looking rather blank and giving no sign of having visited him the night before as part of weird attempt to assuage her justified guilt- and Ty lee- looking totally hot and not at all like an evil, evil Fire Nation demon woman should. (Then again, weren't there legends about some evil spirits who appeared as beautiful women and lured overly optimistic men into hidden ditches or something? That sounded Fire Nation-y.)

Sokka put his attention back on Azula and gave her his most professional hunter's face. He might have been strung up in a subbasement with chains binding his arms to the walls on either side of him, but that didn't mean he didn't have some dignity left. They left him his clothes, after all, even if they took all his weapons and trinkets. "Yup, congratulations, you found me. Now you hide, and I'll go looking for you. I'll count to a hundred, first. One... two... three..."

She smacked him across the face.

"_Hey_!" He wanted to rub his cheek, but the chains were too short for that. Sokka bet that was totally on purpose. "If you don't want to play, just say so. Also, if you don't like quasi-humorous banter used to hide how terrified I am, feel free to weigh in on that, too. I'd like to avoid any slappings, thanks."

She tapped her chin and regarded him. "Why don't we just skip to the part where I interrogate you for useful information? And keep in mind that informative prisoners don't get slapped."

Sokka gave Azula his warmest smile. "Hey, if you knew how long I've been waiting for a girl to actually value the information in my head... well, you'd probably be kind of scared and running for the door right about now."

Azula frowned. "I don't like quasi-humorous banter used as a cover to hide how terrified you are."

"Fair enough."

Azula turned and paced on the ground in front of him. "Where is the Avatar?"

Sokka shrugged, rattling his chains. "Believe it or not, he's gone hunting poisonous blowfish. He got a note or something about how it was part of his Avatar questy thing, and ran off. But _not_ before kissing my sister. I thought they were still in that whole shy, kiddy-crush phase, but the other day, just as Aang was about to leave, I turn around and BAM, they're doing more lip-bending than a... well, I don't know, 'lip-bending' is a terrible expression and I wish I hadn't thought of it. I don't know what Aang said to Katara, because I thought it would take a lot more to get her to admit to seeing him that way, even though I think she kind of _did _see him that way, and if I didn't already have Suki I'd probably be asking him for tips, which is just not right since he's three years younger than me. Or maybe two by now, I'm not really sure when his birthday-"

"_Silence!_" At Azula's screech, Sokka shut up. The Princess had stopped her pacing, and was leaning right next to his face with a tight expression and scary, flared eyes. "_Helpfully informative _prisoners don't get slapped," she picked up again. "Prisoners who waste my time get lit on fire."

Sokka frowned at her. "It would help if you told me the rules _before _I break them. How is that any way to run anything?"

Azula's face didn't calm, but she did step back again. "Where is Zuko?"

"Your brother? With the scar?"

Azula's scowl deepened.

"Hey," Sokka said, raising his hands up in surrender, "I just want to make sure we're on the same page. People who try to kill me don't always stop and introduce themselves first. For all I know, 'Zuko' is the Fire Nation equivalent of Pipinpadaloxicopolis. Anyway, I don't know where Zuko is. Last I saw him, he was in this palace. Theoretically, he could be have been meeting with the Resistance last night to hand over the Earth King at the special one-time-only rendezvous point, but if you haven't found him by now, I'm afraid I got nothing. We haven't exactly been working together for very long."

Azula tapped her chin again. "That was somewhat informative. How _did _you start working with him? Is my brother a traitor?"

Sokka stretched his arm muscles as much as the chains would allow. His limbs were _really _stiff. "Hey now, I don't even want to know what kind of freaky political rivalry you two have going on. I have a sensitive stomach. All I know is that when he was bald, he tried to kill me, but now that he has hair, he seems more interested in not getting killed by you, but your tendency to over-achieve when we're both around has made sure that working together is usually the only way for us to stay alive. Usually, I don't ask much more than I need to confirm he's taking a pragmatic approach and not attacking me while we help each other. The less I know, the better. I don't want him to draw me into his Zuko Drama." Sokka blew out a heavy sigh. "And wow, does he seem like he has Zuko Drama to spare."

Azula lips quirked into what could have almost been a smile; she apparently wasn't as good as Mai at suppressing her emotions. (Ty Lee, on the other hand, was giggling openly by now. If Sokka weren't already dating Suki...) The Princess crossed her arms and said, "I'm appalled to say that I think I believe you. Of course, this leaves me with the rather unhelpful conclusion that you are of no use to me, and might become a most annoying distraction if you were to somehow get free."

Sokka waited for her to get to the point. He already had a little sister; he wasn't impressed by sassy melodrama.

Azula shrugged theatrically. "Then again, there might be still be some useful scraps of knowledge in that cluttered mind of yours. I don't have time to sift through it all here and now, but once we're back in the Fire Nation, you can be my new hobby. After all, the Kyoshi Warriors can't last forever; my favorite toys rarely do..."

For the first time in the entire interrogation, Sokka found himself acting without thinking it through first. It was a shame, because the chains were good quality, and they stopped him mid-lunge before his hands were anywhere near Azula's throat.

The Princess smiled, waved goodbye, and marched straight out of the room. Ty Lee gave him one last classically doe-eyed look, and trotted after her. Alone at last, Sokka turned his attention to where Mai had stood still the entire time.

She looked at him without any expression. "You're a lot smarter than you usually let on, that last outburst not withstanding. Thanks for covering for me."

Sokka gave her a weak smile and leaned into his chains. "So what now?"

"Oh, Azula's serious about taking you to the Fire Nation. But that's good, because she was considering killing you earlier this morning, until I convinced her that you're hiding some real value behind your nonsense."

"Hey," Sokka smirked, "my nonsense is my best feature. Just ask my fans."

Mai stared at him for a moment, sighed, and then walked out.

* * *

Once Toph got out of the Lower Ring, she had a very pleasant walk back home. It wasn't _home _home, of course, it was just the house in the Upper Ring that she, Aang, Katara, and Sokka had been given to use, but the important thing is that her friends were probably waiting there for her. So, close enough to the idea of 'home' in the ways that mattered.

Toph missed her friends, especially Sokka. No one took an insult like him, and Toph had some good zingers saved up. Also, he smelled like Love and Hotness.

Toph didn't know why the gang hadn't come to help her on the Outer Wall, either with fighting the Fire Nation army parked right next to it or cleansing the wall itself of Dai Li saboteurs, and she wasn't too proud to admit that she was a little worried about them. She didn't even stop on her way back to the Upper Ring, no matter how many fighting opportunities came up. When they were moving, she could sense Dai Li agents long before they could see her, and it was too easy to evade them with their lousy Earth-sense. Stationary Dai Li were more of a problem for her, but it seemed like things were too busy for any of them to just waste time standing around.

Toph, on the other hand, knew the value of waiting and listening. That's why, when she finally got back to her home away from not-home, she stopped and stood outside the house, wiggling her toes against the stone ground, trying to figure out who the strange people were inside. With a start, she realized she recognized one of them with her tremor-sense. It was the old man who gave her tea and advice that time, and later turned out to be some kind of Firebender fugitive. With that clue, she identified one of the other figures as the old man's nephew, that Zuko guy who everyone got so worked up about. The last one was a girl Toph didn't know, but Momo seemed comfortable enough with her, letting her pet him and feed him nuts.

Satisfied, Toph walked straight up to the house's front door and pushed it open. "Hey," she said. "Is there any food?"

* * *

Mai had staked out her favorite spot in the palace throne room, a spot on the small staircase directly in front of the Badgermole Throne (and Mai had thought that the Burning Throne back home was pretentious) where she could drape herself to lean against the ornate gold railing. It amused her to imagine that jeweled concubines had once lounged in the very same spot while barbarian Earth Kings watched their enemies be fed to feral bears.

She needed _something _to distract from mister Creepy Eyes Long Feng.

The Once and Back Again head of the Dai Li stood at attention before Azula, with the Firebender Captain Tzun beside him. Azula, of course, was sitting on the throne behind Mai. (Ty Lee, of course, was off to the side again trying to get the Earth King's bear to walk on its hands. Still. That girl had an impressive attention span when she put her mind to it.) Azula did her whole Royal thing and solemnly opened the conversation with, "Have you settled on your precise deployment, Captain?"

Tzun bowed like a good lackey and motioned to the map of Ba Sing Se on the table in front of him. "Yes, Your Highness. The last intelligence reports the Dai Li filed, before being driven out of the Lower Ring overnight, indicated that these neighborhoods here are still under the firm control of local gangs, resisting all attempts by the neighborhood police to restore order. We don't expect that they'll harass a full squad of armored Firebenders, so that will be our entry point into the Lower Ring." Dragging his finger across the map, he added, "This path here is a fairly direct route to the Inner Wall, and a wide entrance has been added to the base there so that people could access a new zoo. That portal doesn't require Earthbenders to open, so we'll use it to get past the wall and into the Outer Fields. From there, we fade into the wilderness, and begin operations to hit as many of the farms as we can. Have you decided how long we'll have?"

Azula nodded and stood up from the throne. Mai quickly drew her legs in so that Azula didn't step on them as she marched down to the main floor. "Yes, Captain, I have. A week from now, my personal _Royal Phoenix_-class warship will arrive. With its support, your ship can fight the way clear of any blockade. Will you be able to do sufficient damage within a week?"

Tzun bowed enthusiastically, and added a completely redundant, "Yes, Your Highness!"

Azula clasped her hands behind her back and nodded with Royal authority. Mai knew she sometimes practiced that in front of a mirror. "Excellent. Are the Dai Li ready?"

Long Feng nodded in what Mai decided was only a _mostly _accommodating manner. "They are, Princess. The Resistance will soon find themselves too busy to worry about a small Firebender squad pushing through their territory, between your other troops in the Middle and Upper Rings, and the Dai Li guerrilla squads I have set up."

"Perfect. Captain Tzun, you have your orders. Do your Nation proud!"

One more bow, and the Firebender practically skipped out of the room. Mai had the urge to roll her eyes, but didn't want to take her gaze off of Azula and Long Feng. Once the doors to the throne room closed again, Azula turned a malicious smile to her new best friend. "And our other special project?"

Long Feng smiled back. "I have a dozen Dai Li agents in training already, and I'll shift more in as soon as they're available. We can keep your Firebenders hidden, provide them refuge and support, even after order is restored to the city. Do you still plan on departing tomorrow morning?"

Azula nodded, and turned to walk back to the throne. "Yes, that should give Tzun enough of a head start. He'll do well as an urban insurgent, but I don't think even he's quite dedicated enough to agree to stay behind in hostile enemy territory. He might balk at his life being the price for your own rise to power." She threw a mocking glance back at Long Feng as she passed by Mai again. It was a look that Mai was quite familiar with herself.

Long Feng closed his eyes and shook his head. "I'm not one to waste resources, but solving the 'Firebender problem' should win me enough support to contest the weakness of the King and the Council of Five. I would thank you for your Nation's sacrifice, but thwarting the Avatar's ridiculous invasion plot is well worth the price, I think."

Azula sat down on the throne again and crossed her legs. "Deliver me Zuko, as promised, and my Nation will consider it a bargain."

Mai, of course, said and did nothing. She just sat there like a jeweled concubine, albeit one in black Dai Li shirt and pants.

* * *

"_You LEFT Sokka?!_"

Toph could feel Zuko flinch at the way her voice broke mid-exclamation, and even she had to admit she didn't know her voice could go that high, yet. Iroh, though, stayed calm, right down to his heartbeat. "There was no choice, and he _did _tell my nephew to go. I can attest that it was not a decision my nephew made lightly, nor has he made peace with it. And if we intended to truly abandon Sokka, why would we be in your house here?" He motioned around, and Toph felt Momo look up at him in response. "We came because we were hoping to find some of your group to provide assistance. That you arrived today is proof that Destiny is on our side."

Toph didn't quite have an answer ready for that, at least not one that would be properly belligerent; Iroh was _good_. Instead, she pointed suddenly at the new girl and said, "So who is this floozy again?" Momo chittered what sounded like an attempt at an answer.

Toph could feel the girl's pulse quicken angrily. "I'm Jin. Zuko's girlfriend."

That got a certain heart to skip a beat. "M- my _what_," Zuko sputtered. Toph decided right there that he smelled like Love and Hotness, too.

* * *

"Hello, Agent Zhuang, Agent Laotao."

The two Dai Li agents bowed respectfully to Long Feng. Rising, Zhuang smiled and said, "On behalf of myself and Agent Laotao, sir, I would to express our pleasure at having you back in charge. I always liked you better than the Fire Princess." Laotao nodded in support.

Long Feng only narrowed his eyes in response. "Good to be back, boys. Now, I have a mission for you two. Zhuang, you were the last one watching them; do we have still a line on either Prince Zuko or any member of the Avatar's group?"

The taller Dai Li agent folded his hands together in his sleeves and said, "Yessir, one of our agents spotted the Bei Fong girl coming out of the Lower Ring. He tracked her back to the house they were given in the Upper Ring, and didn't think he was spotted at all. He spotted Prince Zuko and General Iroh inside, waiting for her. Also, they had the lemur in their possession."

"Forget the lemur, Agent Zhuang." Long Feng leaned forward to get right in his subordinate's face. "Your new orders come directly from Princess Azula. You are to arrange for Prince Zuko to discover that his sister will be leaving the city tomorrow, boarding the only Fire Nation warship currently docked in the 'Waves Goodbye' marina. It is important that he also know that the Water Tribe boy, Sokka, will be brought along as a prisoner to be incarcerated in the Boiling Rock prison." Shifting his gaze, to Laotao, Long Feng added, "Repeat that back to me."

The plumper Dai Li agent blinked once and said, "Princess leaving, taking Sokka, going to Boiling Rock."

"Tomorrow," Zhuang added.

Long Feng nodded. "Good. Those are your complete orders from the Princess." Zhuang and Laotao waited, expecting a dismissal, but none was forthcoming. After a long moment, Long Feng added, "Now for _my_ orders. Boys, I want you to explain to Prince Zuko that his sister _wanted_ him to learn the previous information, and is setting a trap in which she expects a complement of Dai Li agents to capture him when he arrives to free this Sokka. I also want you to make clear that those Dai Li will _not _attack on Azula's orders, and I will be present with them to arrest the Princess once she is defeated."

The two agents exchanged a glance. "Sir," said Zhuang, "I don't know if I speak for Agent Laotao, and I certainly don't mean to question orders, but I'm not clear on the purpose of this mission and I think that will affect my ability to complete it successfully."

"In this case, you speak for me, Agent Zhuang."

"Thank you, Agent Laotao."

Long Feng shook his head. "Boys, what have I told you before about thinking? Right now, we're all criminals. If the Earth King gets control back of the city- and it's only a matter of time- we'll all be wanted for treason. That carries an automatic death penalty. She may claim that she's leaving behind her Firebenders for us to heroically bring to justice at our convenience, but the Princess _knows _this; she's setting us up to die satisfying her desires. But if we capture the Princess of the Fire Nation now, we can write our own ticket. We can either use that to prove we never really betrayed the city or the King, or else feed on the public support we'll be given and use that to take the government for ourselves. Get it?"

The two agents exchanged another glance. "I don't know if I speak for Agent Laotao, but I understand fully and agree completely."

"Agent Zhuang, you took the words right out of my mouth."

Long Feng finally gave a tight smile. "Good boys. Just like I taught you."

* * *

It was truly a sight to behold. The ugliest, scariest creature in all the Earth Kingdom- Bosco the Bear- was ambling through the hallways of the Forbidden Palace on its front paws. The bear's entire furry body was sticking straight up in the air, its massive jiggling bum bouncing around right at eye-level, and its back paws waving in the wind like the flags of two opposing armies about to meet on the battlefield.

Mai was struck speechless for a moment, but then remembered why she came looking for Ty Lee. She shook her head to clear it of sanity-killing thoughts and turned to where the acrobat was staring at the bear with an expression like the Agni Warrior itself had manifested before her on wings of fire. "Ty, can we talk for a minute?"

Ty Lee blinked, and turned a quizzical expression on Mai. "Sure? You know, it took me a few days to get him to walk on his paws like that."

"Ty, I hate to deprive you of your justly-earned rewards, but I'm actually trying to do what you asked me to."

"Yay?"

Mai sighed. "Can we go somewhere private?" At the acrobat's nod, Mai waved her friend along into the closest room. It was a wide space, rectangular in shape with a thick green carpet, and had a minimum of furniture in it for a palace room- just a table, a lamp, and a few vases in the corners. What it did boast, however, was a collection of mirrors. Some hung from the walls, others were freestanding in solid gold holders, but all were oriented so that they reflected whatever stood in the room's center.

Mai purposely drifted along the edge so that her reflection only made it as far as one corner. Ty Lee, of course, danced right into the middle of the space and chirped, "What did you want to talk about?"

Mai sighed. "You heard that we're leaving tomorrow?" At the acrobat's nod, Mai continued, "We're taking Sokka with us. Azula's plan is to use him as bait to lure Zuko into a trap."

Ty Lee lost her smile. "What are you going to do?"

Mai turned away from those big, caring eyes and faced her reflections, but that proved even worse. She could see the worry on her own face, and the sight was worse than seeing the bear walk around on its front paws. Facing Ty Lee again, Mai said, "I don't know. That's why I'm telling you. You said that it was good that I was so pathetic, that I was actually willing to take a risk and possibly wreck my life to help someone. But you also said that I had to think about my own safety, and that I had a friend who was concerned about me. So, 'friend,' what help can you give me? I-"

Mai closed her eyes. She couldn't stand the sight of _anything _anymore.

"I don't want Azula to get Zuko. I don't want Sokka to get locked up forever. I don't want to face what might come after it all. And I want to stop _feeling_."

Ty Lee said nothing.

* * *

Between the Resistance, the Firebender arsonists, random citizens and scavengers, their own Dai Li allies, and any wandering heroes who might be back in town, Zhuang and Laotao figured that trying to be sneaky was completely futile, so they walked comfortably down the Upper Ring streets together. Sadly, the food stalls were abandoned, what with most of the citizens hiding in their estates while urban warfare raged around them, so the pair went without lunch. For now.

"Agent Zhuang?"

"Yes, Agent Laotao."

"See if you follow my logic."

"It would be my pleasure, Agent Laotao."

The shorter, plumper agent took a moment to consider his words. "Do you recall how Long Feng claimed that Princess Azula was setting us all up, that we would be arrested as traitors after she left?"

"The memory is painfully clear, Agent Laotao," Zhuang said with a wince.

"Well, the boss is claiming that if we capture the Princess, the Dai Li will be heroes and forgiven by the King. But we still betrayed him, very clearly, and worked for Her Highness while Long Feng was still in prison."

Zhuang nodded. "So far, your facts are all clear, Agent Laotao."

"So they lead me to the inescapable conclusion that there's no way we won't be considered traitors, no matter what we do with the Princess, and Long Feng is setting us up the same way she is, with the same lie, to save himself."

Zhuang stopped walking and reached up to grab his conical hat as thought it might blow away in the wind. Laotao brought himself to a halt and turned to look back at his partner. "Agent Zhuang?"

The taller agent was slow in speaking. "Agent Laotao, I find your logic disturbingly valid."

"That's what I was afraid of. But I don't know what we can do about it."

Zhuang blinked several times. "I think I have an idea, Agent Laotao."

"That's... good to hear, Agent Zhuang. Would you care to elaborate?"

A smile grew on the taller agent's face. "How would you like to leave Ba Sing Se, and go somewhere that isn't trying to kill us?"

* * *

"Oh, Mai!" Ty Lee dashed forward and wrapped her friend up in a powerful hug. Mai endured it, and hoped that it meant Ty Lee had an answer for her. "I feel so sorry for you!"

Mai sighed. "Thanks, Ty. That really makes everything _so _much better."

Ty Lee eased away, and looked her friend right in the eyes. "I don't normally give advice, really because no one ever listens to me but also because everyone needs to find their own path and stuff, but you need the help this time, and I'll do anything to help my friends."

Mai waited patiently. Either this was going to be really good, or a major disappointment.

"What you should do," Ty Lee said, "is follow your heart, and trust your safety net."

Mai frowned. "My _safety net?_"

"Yes!" Ty Lee let go of her, and abruptly cartwheeled out to the center of the room again. "That's the first thing I learned in the circus. If you worry too much about falling, you'll never fly like you were meant to! Be calm and learn to fly!"

Mai sighed once more. "I'm taking life advice from a runaway circus freak."

* * *

They were into their third hour trying to plan out an assault on the palace to free Sokka, and it wasn't even Toph's fault. "So let me see if I have this straight," she said. "First we put Zuko in the female servant's uniform with Momo hidden under his hat, and then Jin pretends that she's-"

Toph abruptly cut herself off, and could feel everyone blink simultaneously. "Something wrong?" Zuko prompted.

"There's someone at the door." Everyone's pulses sped up at that pronouncement, but Toph wasn't so sure about the situation. They visitors didn't _feel _hostile, but she could sense their... eh, no mysteries were going to be solved by just standing there thinking about them. Walking to the front door, Toph calmly opened it and turned her face up at the two Dai Li agents standing there so that they could look straight into her blind eyes. "Hello."

"Hello, Lady Bei Fong," the taller one said. "You don't know us, but we would like to offer you detailed information about Princess Azula's plans, Long Feng's plans, the whereabouts of your captured friend, and tomorrow's likely events. In exchange, we would like your assistance in arranging passage out of the city, in such a manner that no one will ever know where we went."

The other Dai Li, shorter and plumper, produced something that rattled like paper from his sleeve. "As a token of our goodwill," he said, "we've brought you a copy of the Invasion plans that the Council of Five came up with for the Avatar and the Earth King. You can tell they're real because they were written by Lady Mai of Ten Thousand Hidden Knives in her own handwriting, and I took them from Mister Sokka Water Tribe himself when he was captured. Also, Agent Zhuang here forgot one of our demands; we would like some lunch, please."

Toph concentrated. They were telling the truth. "Come in," she said. "Don't mind Momo."

* * *

Sokka was in the process of learning how to fly an imaginary motor-powered air-glider with just the power of his awesome mind when Mai came for another visit. "Ooh, is it lunch time? I hope you brought something other than rice gruel."

Mai glared at him like she was mad. "Don't make this any harder than it already is. Please."

O- kay. Sokka gave her his nicest smile and said, "I never wanted anything to be hard for you." It was a good line, he'd have to remember it. Wait, maybe not, that sounded much more innocent in his head…

She raised a sharp, kind of scary eyebrow at that, but said nothing. She just sighed, stared at her feet for a moment like they were really interesting or something, and then pulled her silly Dai Li shirt over her head. Sokka blinked with surprise, and noted with interest that her whole upper torso- bare except for her wrappings- was covered in about a dozen of her knife-belts and blade-holsters.

When he raised his eyes to her face, she was looking mad again, and her face was all red. "You could have averted your eyes. That's what polite boys would do."

Sokka frowned. "Why? Just because you took your shirt off? I see my sister and Toph in the wrappings all the time."

Mai made a kind of retching sound at that, but focused her attention on removing the weapon-belts and laying them out nicely on the floor. Once she had gotten them all off, her shirt went back on with a very impressive speed. Finally meeting his eyes again, she said, "Try not to enjoy this too much."

"Why, what are you- _sacred slush!_" His voice broke embarrassingly as Mai untied his belt and yanked his pants down. Another flick of her hands opened his shirt and pushed it back off his shoulders, but his chain-bound arms kept it from falling to the floor. "Wow, it's one thing to _see _someone in their wrappings, but this a little too much. I'm with Suki, even if she's in another country right now, and hey, you're proving not to be a completely awful Fire Nation girl, but we only just stopped trying to betray each other and..."

Sokka trailed off as she began hooking a bandoleer of knives around his stomach.

Mai worked quickly and surely, tying each belt on some part of his body, checking the way it settled against his skin, and adjusting it so that rested comfortably and snugly against him. He noticed that she avoided his arms, probably because of the lack of sleeves on his tunic, and also spots that Sokka thought a prisoner might be grabbed by during transit. "Am I going somewhere that I'm going to be needing a weapon shop's worth of knives?"

Mai wrapped the last small holster around his right leg, slid it down into his boot, and tightened it. "We're all going on a little trip, tomorrow. I figured you should be prepared."

"Um, prepared for what?"

Finished with her task, Mai dressed him again quickly and efficiently. "I don't know," she sighed. "Apparently, our only choice is to fly and trust in our safety net."

As she tied his tunic back together, Sokka tried to parse her words for meaning. "Is that a reference to something? We don't have theaters in the South Pole, and I've been too busy with Aang to check out much Earth Kingdom culture, just a Haiku club or three."

"Forget about it." Mai finally let go of him, but remained in place close enough to give him an _oogies _feeling. "I don't understand it either. Sometimes, you have to throw even if you can't see the target anymore. Will you be ready tomorrow?"

Sokka thought about that and said, "Don't take this the wrong way, but the holsters are really twisting up my underwear."

"Yeah, that happens." She turned and headed for the door.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"To wash my hands," she called back. "I don't know the last time you bathed."

Classy. Real classy. Hopefully, the next visitor would be bringing lunch. Food would have been a much better gift than violations of personal space, weapons he couldn't even use, and ominous warnings about the future. Then it struck Sokka that the greatest sign of trust between warriors was an exchange of weapons. Mai had given him from her _personal stash_.

Huh.

Tomorrow would be interesting.

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	7. Dance, Part 1

**Dance – Part 1**

_It was good to be Momo now._

_Momo used to be sad. The Air Temple was a sad place. Then people came and played with Momo. The bald one was nice and liked to play. The cranky one was strange but knew about sharing food. Sharing food meant friends. The girl liked to laugh and play with water. She also liked to feed Momo. Momo really liked her._

_Momo liked his all new friends. New friends took him to places of warmth and food. Except for the ice place. The ice place was not so good._

_Now Momo had even more friends. New dusty little girl was very nice. She lived like Momo. She knew about picking toes. She was less people and more lemur than the others. Momo liked other lemurs. Now new people had come to the house in the big city. Momo missed the bald one and the water girl. But the old man and the one with the bad eye had fed Momo. They were nice. The new city girl had petted Momo. Momo liked to be petted. Then dusty little girl came back and she liked Momo's new friends too. All were nice. All were happy._

_Today Momo woke up alone again in the house. But the new friends had left big bowls of fruit. Momo liked fruit and nuts. The new friends were very nice to leave fruit and nuts. Momo ate the fruit and nuts. Momo also saved some nuts for later._

_He hoped his friends would be back soon. Then they could have nuts together._

* * *

Sokka was woken up bright and early. Well, it wasn't very bright in his little dungeon, but it was presumably bright outside. Hopefully. Someday, theoretically, Sokka might enjoy being brought out of sleep bright and early by his awesome future-wife's smooth, fruity lips tickling him behind his right ear, but that day was not today. Azula, the girl waking him up, was not his wife. She did not kiss him behind either ear. And he was pretty slushing sure that her lips were _not _fruity.

"The sun has risen, Water savage," she called out far too brightly for the time of day. The sound echoed in the torture chamber and yanked Sokka awake. "Just as my destiny rises with it, and you will now rise in service to my destiny."

Sokka shook his head and hoped that he was still dreaming. "Um, I'm already standing. You know, what with my arms chained at standing height and all. So, I'm not exactly in a position to give you the rise you're looking for. Wait, did that sound dirty?"

Azula shook her head at him, but Sokka wasn't sure if that was in response to his question, so he just yawned.

Dai Li guards came in and moved to stand behind him where he was chained. One took a position a little ways back, while the other clicked a metal ring of some kind around his right wrist. It looked like the shooty-cuffs that Dai Li agents used to bind people, but this one was attached by just a short braid of metal rings to a second cuff. Sokka heard the rustling of robes as the first agent performed some kind of movement, and the stone walls suddenly spat out the ends of the larger chains like an Airbender who just realized that jerky was meat. The second Dai Li agent moved before Sokka realized what was going on, twisting his cuffed arm down, then wrenching his other arm close the first and clicking the other cuff on the wrist. Sokka was effectively bound with his arms behind his back. Only then did the man remove the larger chains.

Great. From one set of uncomfortable bindings to another. That was going to do _wonders _for his circulation problems.

The first Dai Li agent stepped forward to grab Sokka by his left arm, while the second went over to Azula and handed her a key on a leather line. "That was well handled," she said. "Bring him out."

Sokka was dragged only a short distance before he found his feet and managed an ungainly walk. "Ow, okay already, I'm moving. Yee, you think you'd give a guy a chance at breakfast before you start with the rough-housing." He looked around the still dark hallways of the Earth King's palace, then said very nonchalantly, "So, is that the key to these cuffy things?"

Azula glared at him as she walked, put the leather line over her head like a necklace, and tucked the key down her silly Dai Li shirt.

Fine. It was too early in the morning for conversation, anyway. He trotted on in silence.

* * *

Mai was waiting with Ty Lee outside the palace when they brought Sokka out. He looked a little groggy, although whether that was because he had spent the last day chained up in a standing position or he just wasn't getting enough sleep was an open question. Then again, maybe it was both. Mai didn't really know much about torture techniques; she was fine sticking with the study of how to be a better fighter. Torture just came naturally to her.

Her fingers twitched at the sight of Sokka. The memory of outfitting his undressed body with hidden weapons came and went from her mind.

"Come on, Mai," Ty Lee said from beside her. "Let's get in our carriage. Azula will want to leave right away."

Mai sighed and acquiesced, following the acrobat to the first carriage lined up for the small caravan. They had just gotten seats when Azula herself climbed inside and took the place opposite Ty Lee. Once the Princess was settled, she motioned to the Dai Li agent outside, and Sokka was shoved unceremoniously into the remaining seat.

Right across from Mai.

He looked at her, then shifted his gaze to scan around the carriage interior. So far, so good. No one knew she had snuck him some of her knives the night before. She hadn't slept all last night for the worry, and the worst part was that she still had no idea what exactly she was hoping to accomplish. He wasn't going to be able to escape, and what exactly were they going to do to disrupt Zuko's capture?

Was Zuko even her ally? Who's side was _he _really on?

Mai hated questions. If only she took orders better, she wouldn't be in this mess.

"I wonder if my brother will ambush us on the road, or wait for us on the docks," Azula said brightly as the carriage swayed into motion. Really, Mai was starting to hope that the Prince wouldn't show up at all, but if pressed, she would probably put a silver piece on the docks. Zuko had a flair for the dramatic that was good at getting him in trouble.

They rode in silence for a while, before the overall tension collapsed in on itself. "Let's play a game," Ty Lee said. Humming to herself, she looked around the carriage's interior. "Hmmm, I spy with my little eye, something... green!"

"Azula's hair deco," Mai grunted. "You've been eying it since she got it."

Ty Lee clapped her hands. "Yay, you win! Your turn."

Mai sighed. She could just tell, it was going to be one of _those_ days.

* * *

The carriage's windows were papered over, but Sokka paid as much attention to the journey as he could while locked in a cozy carriage with three identically dressed and expertly groomed teenage girls. Early in the trip, he heard the unmistakable sound of Earthbending, and the whole carriage tilted as though riding down an incline. The ground straightened up again in short order, but the light outside the carriage was dimmer, and as far as he could see through the paper window-covers, tinted green. It reminded him of those crystals they used as lighting everywhere in Ba Sing Se.

They spent a long while on that dark, hazily lit path. Sokka couldn't tell how long before they rode uphill and emerged into the sunlight again, but Mai had sighed thirty-six times in that time and Ty Lee had actually run out of breath once during her talking. He figured it must have been an hour or two, at least.

Even after that, they rode on. During one conversational lull, Sokka said, "So, uh, if the prisoner is allowed to ask questions, where are these docks we're going to? You didn't exactly let me take a potty break before we left."

Mai's made a _face _at that and Ty Lee giggled, but Azula just kept examining her fingernails. "I suppose it can't hurt to tell you, and intellectual curiosity should be encouraged, even in savages. The Firebender reinforcements who helped capture you came from a ship we landed in the Western Zeixin Lake, near the Serpent's Pass, at a marina maintained for the recreation of Ba Sing Se's elite. We'll be sailing it across the lake, along the eastern river, and out to sea from there."

Sokka frowned. "Wait, the marina the rich guys all used was _outside_ the city? How does that make sense? Then again, I _am _talking about Ba Sing Se, here, so since when does sense come into it?"

Azula gave him a nod that didn't seem sarcastic or threatening. "Hm. The marina itself is two hundred years old. The elite haven't had the... strength of will to leave the city for their little pleasure boats since the Fire Nation increased our presence here, as part of our plan to assemble and deploy the Great Drill of Destiny. As always, for everything that the Earth Kingdom is too backwards to use effectively, the Fire Nation finds a purpose."

"The Great Drill of Destiny?" Sokka made a face at that, but didn't say anything else, lest Azula take offense at his opinion of Fire Nation naming conventions and slap him around again. He _hated _that.

Azula gave a helpless shrug in reply. Mai sighed for the thirty-seventh time.

Sokka went back to thinking about how he was going to get out of the mess he was in, an only marginally less frustrating hobby than figuring out the Fire Nation or the Earth Kingdom's Impenetrable City.

* * *

They arrived at the marina without incident. Mai and Ty Lee exited their carriage first, in accordance with Azula's typically genius-level tactics. Mai scanned the area, ready to let fly with her knives and projectiles at the first sign of trouble that meant harm to her. (Other forms of trouble were only being attacked on an as-needed basis.) The marina itself was as visually impressive as everything else Ba Sing Se actually put effort into. What had once been beautiful yachts and junks were parked (or whatever word they used for boats, 'docked,' probably) along wooden piers and still tied securely, but most of the ships themselves had a run-down look to them that bespoke abandonment to the weather. The Fire Nation battleship was nestled against a dock right in the center of the ship collection, and Mai could see the shattered remnants of that specific berth's previous occupant littered along the ground. Mai bet that the warship had simply plowed into the smaller wooden vessel without concern.

She supposed that would make a good metaphor for _something_, but didn't really bother thinking about it. She was too busy looking for Zuko. In addition to the docks, the marina boasted a number of buildings, ranging from maintenance sheds to what looked like an Upper Ring-quality spa and restaurant with a mural on its front. The painting depicted elaborately robed sailors waving to mermaids from their ships. (The Dai Li shirts that the mermaids were wearing looked to Mai to have been painted much more recently than the rest of the picture.) Zuko could be hiding in any one of the structures, not to mention the Dai Li agents who were supposed to be ambushing him.

Azula couldn't have arranged it any better.

Mai signaled to Ty Lee, who in turn waved happily back at their carriage. Azula dragged Sokka out, while the other carriages disgorged a half squad of Firebender soldiers, the only ones who would be returning to the Fire Nation with their Princess. The whole group assembled into a formation with Azula in front and Mai bringing up the rear, and began marching to the ship.

They were only a quarter of the way there when Zuko made his appearance.

He went unnoticed by everyone but Mai when he stood up from the restaurant's roof, apparently having been hiding in or around one of several chimneys. She spotted something hanging from his back, and as he began running for the roof's edge, she could see that it was a dao blade in scabbard. Running out of roof, Zuko made a leap that took him down to land on the path between his sister and the warship. He probably landed hard, but kept his feet and took a solid Firebender stance. He pointed at the princess and bellowed, "Azula! This ends now. I challenge you to an _Agni Kai!_"

Mai rolled her eyes. An Agni Kai? Now he wasn't even trying. Azula in turn gave an artificial chuckle and said, "Really, Zuzu, must you always be so dramatic? Regardless, my answer is no. Mai, Ty Lee, soldiers, take him prisoner, if you can, but I'll settle for a recognizable trophy for Father." Then the Princess grabbed Sokka by wrapping an arm around his neck and held him tight against her body.

Well, this wasn't going as hoped for at all. Mai stepped around the Princess and began lining up vectors while Ty Lee and the Firebenders ran to close the range on Zuko.

* * *

Sokka was worried when he was first grabbed that Azula would get a little too touchy and feel Mai's knives under his clothes, but having his arms manacled behind his back provided a buffer between his body that maintained the deception. Hey, what do you know, Azula could be her own worst enemy, sometimes. "Wow," Sokka said in as casual a voice as he could managed in the awkward position. "And here I thought your brother was afraid of _you_, not the other way around. And by the way, I know you probably don't get a lot of practice, but this is _not _how hugs work. I could paint you a scroll with step by step instructions, if you want, but first you'll have to uncuff me."

"Oh, _do _shut up, it gets old quickly," Azula said. Her body was unpleasantly warm, even through her clothes and armor. "And it got old sometime yesterday."

Zuko had just began engaging the Firebenders, trading small bursts of flame that bounced off each other's defenses while Ty Lee hung back and looked for an opening, when Sokka suddenly heard the sound of sustained Firebending coming from _behind _him. Mai cried out in either pain or surprise, and Azula twisted- Sokka still held against her- to see Uncle General Iroh in a Firebending stance. Mai was on the ground, blinking, but didn't seem to be burned.

"Good morning, Azula," the old man said. "I hope you'll accept my warning that more is arrayed against you than you realize, and it would be best to stand down and negotiate with us for a peaceful resolution."

Azula huffed. "Mai, kill him."

* * *

Oh, sure, kill the _Dragon of the West_. At least Mai could now be sure just how confident Azula was in her fighting abilities. Mai dropped a razor disk into each hand and threw them at Iroh before she dashed out of her crouch and started circling him in a run. Iroh dodged both projectiles with just slight shifts of his weight, not even moving his feet, and gestured a wave of fire low to the ground along Mai's path. She jumped up with legs tucked beneath her and threw a stiletto as she flew through the air.

Iroh raised a hand and caught the blade midair between thumb and forefinger.

Oh, this was going to be fun. And by 'fun,' Mai meant that she was actually worried she was going to die.

* * *

While Mai kept Uncle General Iroh busy, Azula dragged Sokka along with her as she moved further up the path, towards where Zuko was fighting six soldiers at once with twin dao blades and Firebending. Sokka admittedly had to use a strong force of will to tear his attention off the pretty cool display to razz Azula some more. "You know, if I'm too much trouble here, I can walk on my own. Really, it wouldn't be an inconvenience."

"If you're not a hostage and no longer useful as bait," Azula said, "you're surplus to requirements and a liability."

"Okay, okay, just offering." Sokka couldn't do much- yet- but even distracting the Princess for a moment was a contribution. He hoped.

Scanning the battle, Azula said, "Speaking of usefulness..." She turned her head away from Sokka, put her free hand to her mouth, and let loose a whistle that felt like she was stabbing Sokka's ears with her fingernails.

From inside all the buildings around them, robed Dai Li agents emerged in fighting stances.

Azula shifted Sokka again so that she could face the bulk of her reinforcements and said, "Concentrate on my uncle! We'll have Zuko soon enough."

Then the Dai Li agent closest to Azula, who had come out of that neat-looking restaurant with the colorful art on its front, took off his hat and revealed the ugly bald visage of Long Feng. "We'll have you _all _soon enough, Princess Azula. Did you really think you could try to betray me and I wouldn't see through you simplistic plans?"

Azula's voice came in a mocking tone behind Sokka's ear. "I _hoping_ that you were smart, but I wasn't relying on it, no." Then she shoved Sokka _hard _right in Long Feng's direction, and it felt distinctly like his flying upper body was dragging his feet along it. Long Feng actually caught Sokka as he collided against him, then spun and pushed the Water Tribe warrior off to the side to skid to the ground.

Sokka resisted the urge to sigh and began trying to get back to his feet. It was going to be one of _those_ battles.

* * *

Mai was getting the distinct impression that she was losing her battle against Iroh. He wasn't pressing his attacks against her, merely using his flames to break up her own attack patterns and keep her from building up any fighting momentum, but nearly every step he took brought him closer to her. She was trying to keep her distance, because she had only one optimal range in her fighting style, but the marina buildings were boxing her in to a degree, and the retired general (who Azula _always_ referred to as an old fuddy duddy, but Mai noticed how _she _wasn't here fighting the guy) seemed to be taking that into account. He got steadily closer, and if he got into hand-to-hand range, Mai had no doubts that the fight would be over in short order.

At least he seemed to be intent on taking her alive, otherwise he would have set her hair on fire by now.

Then the ground beneath Mai's feet took on a life of its own and flung her into the air. Her gifted, precise eyes scanned around as she flew, and settled on a team of Dai Li agents who seemed to have joined the fight against _both _sides and were attacking Iroh as well.

Well, that was unexpected.

Then the ground was coming up, and Mai twisted so that she landed in a roll. Coming out of it, she settled into a crouch and let loose a flurry of small blades that pinned the robes of the Dai Li agent who had targeted her against the wall of the small maintenance shed he was next to.

Finally, something she could _beat_.

She went into her special 'dance,' the Ten Thousand Flying Knives Shuffle, every single movement of her body unleashing another wave of projectiles against her enemies. It wasn't a real dance, like they did in the Earth Kingdom or the Fire Nation colonies, but Mai liked it all the better for that. _This_ was the true purpose of grace and movement. This was how she was comfortable interacting with the world. If only she could have been wearing her Fire Nation robes, she could have had access to even more weapons and _really _shown the Dai Li creeper-spies a thing or two about full-on combat.

Another Dai Li agent dropped before her, and Mai suddenly found herself face-to-face with Iroh. He reached out to poke her lightly, and that was just enough force and direction to throw her off her dance and completely unbalance her. She tumbled to the ground and landed hard on her backside.

Iroh smiled and said, "My apologies, but I need a chance to talk to you. I don't suppose I can convince you to stand down?"

Mai kept herself from making any sudden movements. For now. "I don't suppose I can convince you to take Zuko and get out of here. Go where Azula won't find you."

Iroh gave her an arch expression. "If I could do that, do you think we would be caught up in any of this?"

That was a very good point, actually.

* * *

Okay, so Sokka had a few choices here. None of them were good, but he was already used to that. He had taken advantage of Azula and Long Feng's Epic Duel of the Fates to scrunch up on the ground and pass his cuffed wrists under his body so that his arms were back in front of him where the belonged (and all this running around and not getting proper meals lately had actually turned out to be a good thing, because Sokka doubted he would have been able to do that move as easily if his butt wasn't quite as bony as it was right now), but he was still cuffed, and stuck in an enemy battlefield.

There seemed to be three main attractions to this mess of a confrontation- Mai versus Iroh versus Dai Li, Zuko versus Ty Lee versus Dai Li (heh, that rhymed) versus Firebenders, and Azula versus Long Feng. Might as well stick to where things weren't already over-crowded. Sokka got to his feet, and looked to where Azula and Long Feng traded attacks, blue fire splashing against rock walls that became flying rocks that were kicked apart by flaming metal boots and went round and round again.

Then he charged and tackled Azula to the ground while she was distracted. She struggled against him, and Sokka struggled against her in turn, until a shadow eclipsed the sun above them. They both flung themselves away from each other just as a large boulder slammed flat into the ground where they had been, and Sokka came up in a stumbling run. The only problem was that he had picked the absolutely worst direction that could have been available to him, and Long Feng loomed large right in front of him. The Dai Li director made a quick movement of his feet, and a cluster of rocks popped out of the ground to bop Sokka right in his chin.

He went down, saw stars, and could only hope that he would still be alive in a few minutes.

Judging from the sounds of continued Earthbending and Firebending, maybe it wasn't that unreasonable a wish after all.

* * *

Mai's negotiations with Iroh hadn't progressed at all, and he was still keeping a close eye on her hands. She was finding the situation unreasonably frustrating. Iroh continued his argument, saying, "And I'm sure that both Zuko and Sokka would be willing to vouch for you with the Avatar, so he would have to accept your help, and-"

Mai broke in with, "Who says I even want to join the Avatar? Helping one or two people is one thing, but I'm still a part of the Fire Nation. I don't want to destroy it."

Iroh smiled gently. "I remember a little girl who used to play with Azula, and sometimes Zuko, who found the trappings of her life so distasteful that she tried to stop feeling anything at all. This proper but dour girl even seemed to understand when her best friend sometimes talked of fleeing it all to join the circus. Do you think you can fix what's wrong with our nation, while still supporting the war and leadership that have thrown it so out of balance? I love my nation no less than you do. Perhaps more. I had to make hard decisions recently about how to save what I love, decisions that have me now fighting old friends." He offered her his hand. "What kind of decisions have you been making, lately?"

Mai blinked. "I..." Iroh's hand beckoned for her own, but the possibilities it offered loomed too large.

Then the ground under the entire marina rumbled, and people in green armor and green clothes and green everything began streaming out of irising holes in the ground.

Iroh sighed. "I was hoping to save you before they arrived."

* * *

Sokka was back on his hands and knees when the Resistance showed up. At first he thought he had taken a few too many blows to the head over the last few days, but the looks of panic that Azula and Long Feng traded convinced him that this was the real deal. He resisted the urge to chuckle and gloat; Azula might just slap him again before she was taken out.

"Princess Azula," Long Feng said.

"Yes?"

"Perhaps it is time to put personal grudges behind us and unite against mutual enemies."

Azula nodded. "We can always kill one another later."

"My sentiments exactly."

"My first suggestion for our new alliance is a tactical retreat."

"Oh, good," Long Feng said. Then he and the princess broke into a run.

A run that took them in Sokka's direction.

He tried to clamber out of the way, but Azula grabbed the chain that linked his wrist-cuffs and yanked him along with her. He landed into a stumbling run that he couldn't stop, dragged along in the direction of the Fire Nation warship. They dashed past Dai Li agents and Earthbenders, some of whom immediately joined in their wake, but some of the really stupid ones turned to attack the Resistance fighters.

Sokka tried to twist and exert control of his legs, but Azula gave another yank of his chain and kept him in his controlled forward-fall. This brought them right up to the metal warship, and as Azula half dragged, half led him up the gangplank she shouted, "Launch! Launch launch launch!"

Sokka was finally allowed to finish falling once he was fully aboard the warship, and collapsed in a heap next to another body. Groaning, he looked, and saw Zuko's limp form sprawled out on the metal deck. Zuko stared back with his typically lopsided scowl, but his limbs were those of a dead man's. Ty Lee stood over him.

Great. You know, it wasn't so bad when Sokka was the only prisoner, but now this was just getting ridiculous.

* * *

Mai could only watch, surrounded by Earthbenders, as the warship chugged out into the bay. Its chimney belched smoke and the machinery rumbled loudly, testament to how hard the engines were being pushed. The helmsman must have been a good hand, because the ship swung expertly without even nudging the various yachts and junks, finishing in direct line with open waters. A few Resistance members lobbed rocks or shot arrows at the fleeing ship, but only the first few even hit anything, bouncing off the metal hull, while the rest sank straight into the water.

It was only then that Mai realized she had been abandoned.

Iroh caught her look of surprise and said, "We _all _must make hard choices in tough times."

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	8. Dance, Part 2

**Dance – Part 2**

Still lying on the deck, Sokka winced at Ty Lee's screeching. "_We left Mai! She's back there with the burly rock people and we left her and we have to go back!_"

"I _know_, Ty," Azula shot back. "I- the situation dictated our tactics, but there's nothing I can't accomplish with enough planning and resources. We can- we can go back, or send other infiltrators. We can make a landing further up the lake's coast, use the rhinos to loop some soldiers back to the road to the marina. They don't have the Dai Li's secret tunnels, so their journey can take longer, and we can intercept them-"

"_Princess!_"

At the shipman's call, Azula spun and actually growled. "_What _is it?!"

"Ships on the horizon!"

With a hiss, Azula said, "I _know _that, you idiot. We were supposed to rendezvous with the rest of our fleet, anyway. They must have freed up some resources and set an escort for us." The princess paused, and then continued in a much lighter voice, "You see, Ty? Now we have reinforcements. Mai is only a quick trap away from being restored to us. Signal the ships to-"

"Um, your Highness?"

Azula glared at the shipman, and Sokka couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the guy. "What is it now?"

"Um, the ships on the horizon aren't just ours. There are two groups, a small fleet of what look like Water Tribe warships, and a group of Fire Nation vessels that look like... well, the helmsman thinks they're what's _left _of our fleet. Both groups are on an intercept for our position."

Nobody dared to say anything, but Sokka felt his face twist into the biggest grin his cheeks were capable of. There was only one fleet of Water Tribe ships he know of near Ba Sing Se, and he knew the captain well. _Very_ well. Because the captain was his father. His _Dad_.

Slush yeah!

"It seems," Long Feng said into the silence, "that tactics are still dictating our circumstances."

Azula turned and slammed her elbow into his face hard enough to plant him down on the deck.

The other few Dai Li agents who had run aboard all tensed, but the Firebender soldiers immediately turned on them and hit them with small, concussive blasts of fire. On the metal warship, out to sea, those creeps didn't stand a chance. "Prepare for a battle," Azula snapped out. "Take all these prisoners to the brig immediately and then get to your stations. I'll be up on the bridge."

As Sokka was being dragged to his feet again by a Firebender soldier, he heard Azula say one last thing to Ty Lee. "She's lost to us, now. We'll just have to forget about her."

The Dai Li were disarmed of what few rocks they had left of their glove and boot weapons, and tied up. Two soldiers hoisted Zuko up by his arms and hung him over their shoulders. Sokka found himself being pushed along behind the prince as the group made for a ramp leading below decks. It transitioned into a typically Fire Nation corridor with all kinds of interesting pipes and whozamawhatsis bolted to the walls. Once they were past the first hatch, Sokka whispered, "So, Zuko, nice of you visit."

Zuko turned his head slightly to glimpse Sokka with his good eye. "I didn't want to miss the party."

Wait. Was Zuko... was Zuko actually _bantering?_ No, not even quasi-ally Zuko bantered. The guy didn't have a funny bone in his family's whole royal crypt, and as weak a joke as it was, Zuko wasn't even capable of attempting something like it. Something else was going on. Maybe- _just _maybe- Zuko was trying to tell him something?

Oh.

Casually, Sokka said, "I've been looking forward to the dance. I'm ready once the music starts."

The guard behind Sokka cuffed in the back of the head. "No banter."

Zuko turned his gaze forward again and said, "That was the opening note." Then he suddenly snapped his limbs up and slammed the helmeted heads of his two guards together.

Sokka ducked low and spun out of his own guard's grip, the whole while slipping his cuffed hands under his shirt and snagging key he had tucked into his belt- the same key he stole from Azula during her fight with Long Feng when he had tackled and frisked her like a manic pickpocket. When Sokka rose again and faced his guard, it was with two free hands.

Two free hands holding knives.

Thank you, Mai.

The fight was brief and brutal. Zuko whipped into Firebending moves that shouldn't have been possible for anyone who recently lost to Ty Lee, while Sokka covered the prince's back. The Dai Li prisoners got in on the fighting, and though their hands were still tied, the corridor was tight enough that shoulders and knees were still effective enough weapons for trained fighters, even against armor.

Sokka dodged around a flare of fire from the last guard in front of him and tackled the man. He pushed one of the Firebender's arms up away from his body, and slammed a stiletto knife into the unarmored armpit. The man screamed and stopped resisting, so Sokka took advantage of the lull to bury the knife a few more times.

Finished, he got up and looked around.

The other guards were all down and only three of the Dai Li remained. Zuko glared at them, but they simply bowed their heads and stayed where they were. Apparently satisfied, the prince turned to face Sokka.

"How," the Water Tribe warrior said, "are you walking and fighting? Is there some trick to dealing with Ty Lee I should know about?"

Zuko's face twisted, and he actually shrugged. "I'm not sure. When the Dai Li attacked, she used the distraction to get up close to me and offer her help. It had something to do with Mai, but the conversation was pretty rushed. So she hit me with some lighter blows and I faked the effects. Mostly. I'm still a little tingly."

Sokka scratched his head with a free hand. "So, your plan this whole time was really to challenge Azula to a duel, and either win and collect your prize for an honorable win, or rely on luck and surprise allies to help you fix the situation later?"

Zuko frowned. "Actually, no. Uncle came up with some contingency plans for us."

* * *

Deep below decks, the warship's engine chugged away, consuming coal and transforming it via a simple yet sophisticated process into pure motion. The shovellers had a chamber all to themselves, but the space that the ship's crew thought of as the Engine Room contained nothing but metal and a pair of technicians. They were in constant motion, checking dials, twisting spoked control-wheels, and generally acting like the big hunk of machinery in their care was being pushed further than ever intended. This may or may not have actually been true, but it wouldn't do to not be looking busy in the event of something completely random going wrong.

Something completely random chose that moment to go wrong.

A metal container of spare parts made a sound not unlike a 'clunk.' Both technicians looked at the square container, then at each other. Storage units did not typically make sounds on their own, not if their contents were properly secured. One of them sighed and moved to check the container. As soon as he reached it, the lid swung up of its own accord and caught the man right on the chin. The other technician froze, not sure if he should investigate or run, when the choice was suddenly made for him. The front side of the container popped off and flew through the air at him with unerring aim. It didn't even stop after it hit him, not until it smashed him against the room's nearest wall.

With both technicians down and unmoving, Toph Bei Fong emerged from the container. "Metalbending is the _sweetest!_Okay, Wiggles, you can come out now."

Another container's lid opened, although a pair of young human hands powered this one. Jin climbed out and began stretching as soon as her feet hit the metal floor. "Urgh! How many hours were we in there?"

Toph shrugged and walked towards the engine. "Don't know. A whole bunch. Worked out pretty well, though. I'll have to remember all this in case I ever need to sneak aboard a Fire Nation ship again. It's simple enough- Metalbend my own door in the hull, sneak into the engine room, hide out until the big moment, and stuff- but my friends' plans don't usually go this smoothly. Iroh's details are really helpful."

Jin finished her stretching. "Ready to stop this thing?"

Toph cracked her knuckles. "Just tell me which one of those dials is the most 'red.' I'll handle the rest."

* * *

Just as Zuko finished speaking, a horrible metal wrenching sound like the death of some unbalanced spirit echoed through the whole ship. Pipes and fittings rattled in sympathy. Sokka felt the ship's motion give a sudden lurch that he only barely managed to compensate for, and then all that was left was the gentle motion of the waves.

The ship was stopped.

Sokka grinned. Well, that was a pretty good contingency, if he said so himself. "So, what now?"

Zuko looked at the trio of Dai Li agents. They stared back. "We wait until the battle up top is underway," he said. "Then I go for Azula. The rest of you are free to get off this ship at the first opportunity."

The Dai Li trio nodded, but Sokka crossed his arms and shook his head. "Uh uh, Crazy Princess Bluefire is going down. My Dad and Katara are probably out on those boats, and the sooner we take Azula out, the sooner this battle's over and we all get to be safe."

Zuko nodded, and if Sokka wasn't losing his mind, there was something almost kind of sort of like respect on his expression. "We'll watch each other's backs, and make our way up the command tower. The bridge will be at the top."

Sokka nodded back. "Sounds like a plan."

They shook on it.

They didn't have to wait long for the battle. Voices out on the deck rose with frantic tones, and even though the ship was no longer maneuvering, it still had plenty of functional weapons. Catapults and trebuchets sprung into use, and if Sokka's ears were working right (he had taken enough blows to the head lately to have reasonable doubts), the waves themselves roared back with their own arguments. Water Tribe ships didn't have any weapons capable of hurting a metal warship, but that wasn't counting _Waterbenders_.

Then something hard and heavy struck the ship somewhere in the structure above Sokka, and was that a tearing sound echoing?

O- kay, maybe his dad picked up some giant metal crossbows somewhere? It wouldn't be the most surprising thing that happened today. Or this week. Or this whole month, really. Well, considering that Aang had popped out of his iceberg almost half a year ago...

Better just roll with it. "How about we say that's our cue?"

Zuko nodded. "The command tower will be behind us and to our left when we emerge. With the ship's crew reduced, there won't be any guards, and everyone else should be too busy to spot us. Get through the main door, and we'll make further plans from there. Get it?"

"Got it."

"Good."

"Go!"

Both teens dashed up the ramp to the main deck, and Sokka had to blink against the sudden return of the sun. He didn't stop and wait for his eyes to clear, but instead made a sharp turn and dashed across the metal floor as Zuko had directed. As his vision returned, his eyes were greeted by a world of chaos.

Sleek Water Tribe ships cut through the waters around the stationary warship, while other, smaller Fire Nation ships likewise plowed through the waves and angled for attack. Sokka couldn't keep track of the number of ships, not without stopping, but he could see a pair closing in on his position. A Water Tribe ship angled its sail to rush straight at Azula's stilled warship, while a single-catapult Fire Nation vessel rushed forward on an intercept course that would put it bodily in the way of the blue-sailed aggressor.

Sokka slowed as he watched disaster approach, but Zuko continued on. Sokka could see a figure on the deck of the Water Tribe ship- a short one with long dark hair- motioning to the rest of the crew, and the ship's sail moved slightly to change the vessel's course. The small Fire Nation ship launched a fireball, but the Water Tribe figure waved her arms, and a tendril of water jumped out of the sea to engulf and sink the projectile. The Fire Nation ship angled to pursue its opponent, but then the sail swung again suddenly and the Water Tribe attacker was once more headed straight towards Sokka on a rounding course. The Fire Nation ship struggled to turn on a new intercept, but then the longhaired Waterbending figure made a slow, full-body movement and-

-and a giant wave rose up out of the sea to smack the small warship full on the side. It didn't tip, but it was pushed back hard and-

-and Sokka was knocked off his feet as the smaller metal ship collided with the bigger metal ship that he was currently standing on and-

-and there was yet _another _metal tearing sound that drew Sokka's eyes back over towards the command tower even as he fell. There was a large, cut-like gap right at the base of the tower, and as the whole ship tipped from the impact of the crash, Sokka could see melting ice crystals lodged deep within the tear, and-

-and with a groan, the ship tilted even more while the command tower began swaying in the opposite direction, and-

-and Sokka was thrown into the sea as the ship capsized, the command tower tore off from its base, and hundreds of pounds of metal fell down into the water on top of him.

* * *

The salty sea sprayed Mai in the face. Mai _hated _salty sea spray on her face. She hated anything but her favorite cosmetics on her face, really. She didn't react, though. She was too enthralled by the naval battle happening in front of her.

Still, she had a job to do. "A little more to the right," she called back along the stolen pleasure yacht.

From his position at the rear, Iroh shouted back, "You mean the starboard?"

"Sure, why not?"

Iroh swung the steerage wheel, then when he was satisfied with the ship's position, locked it into place and moved to the boat's rear to give it another Firebending-powered rocket-boost. The wind picked up against Mai's face, and she turned back to the battle, watching as Azula's stilled warship traded blows with a Water Tribe ship that apparently had a Waterbender aboard.

Iroh had said that he was going after Zuko, and asked Mai if she wanted to come along or stay as the Ba Sing Se Resistance's prisoner. She had answered. It was as simple as that.

No, it wasn't as simple as that. Azula had abandoned her to death and/or whatever else the warriors of Ba Sing Se were willing to do to a teenage girl who had helped to overthrow their government. Granted, Azula probably hadn't done it on purpose, Mai hadn't betrayed Azula on purpose, either (or so she reasoned). Her parents hadn't had Tom-Tom on purpose. That was life.

Apparently, the naval battle had enjoyed some interesting developments while Mai had been communicating at Iroh. The Waterbending Water Tribe water-ship had tried to make a run at Azula's vessel, and another Fire Navy battleship had intervened. Mai watched as the smaller boat was hit by a monster wave and collided with Azula's ship. Vessels that size should have been more stable, but something must have weakened the base of the command tower, because it tore off as the ship tilted, wrecking the balance and capsizing the entire metal boat.

Mai's sharp eyes, so good at finding targets, spotted a body in blue go flying into the water, followed by what looked like the entire command tower. Other bodies in Fire Nation armor went into the sea, too, but Mai didn't know them, so they didn't matter.

"More starboard," she shouted back to Iroh.

He didn't balk, but just followed her order. As they neared the wreck, he did start to ask, "Where-" but Mai didn't stick around to listen. She took a deep breath and dived off the front of her boat. In retrospect, it was a good thing that she had listened to Azula and learned to swim.

The water stung her eyes slightly, but Mai endured it and scanned through the swirl for her target. There was wreckage and armor-clad bodies all around, but they weren't what Mai was looking for. They were helpful, though, in that they and their trailing air bubbles traced the swirls of the underwater currents. Just like a fleeing pickpocket riding the crowd of Ba Sing Se's Lower Ring to safety, the debris from the ship followed the patterns of the currents. She traced the motion forward and back as she continued to dive, looking for a certain shape, a certain flash of color.

Then spotted a touch of motion, a certain frantic movement that despite being slowed by the water around it, managed to be just ungraceful enough in a way Mai recognized. She swam down towards it, and it resolved in her vision. It was Sokka, of course, but not just Sokka. A piece of the command tower- it almost looked like a chunk of the railing on the observation deck- had tangled up with him, dragging him down. His struggling was reflexive, that of panicked resistance to the drowning sensation his body was experiencing, rather than an intelligent method to get the metal off of him.

Then, as Mai closed in, she wondered if there _was _a way to get it off of him. The railing had somehow twisted around him, pinning one arm and clutching his torso. Mai grabbed the railing, adding her buoyancy to Sokka's, but they both still sank unrelentingly. How was she going to free him? Already her head hammered and her lungs screamed.

She reached into her tunic and drew a sturdy knife.

She tried cutting, but the metal of the railing resisted anything but scratches in the slowed movement of the water. She stabbed at it, but that did even less good.

The bubbles coming out of Sokka were becoming less frequent.

Mai closed her eyes and considered giving up. Then she drew her knife back, focused all the energy in her body, and held it within her like a Firebender might cup a flame in her hand. Mai mentally traced the line from her stomach up through her arm, then with a firm push, drove her inner-energy down the line even as she stabbed down with the knife.

Normally, when she harnessed her true potential like that, she could throw a knife with enough force to drag a grown man off his feet and pin him against a wall he hadn't been standing anywhere near. This time, the move focused enough strength for her knife to sunder the golden metal of the railing with a single blow.

The metal fell away, and Mai and Sokka both stopped sinking. She immediately grabbed him and began swimming for the surface, the black already eating at her vision. She wasn't even aware of the surface until she finally breached it and felt sweet, beautiful air all around her. Treading water, she paused only long enough to frantically catch her own breath before she shifted her grip on Sokka to bring her arm over his stomach. She could feel one of the bandoleers she gave him, now empty of knives, beneath his shirt. Thoroughly disgusted by what she had to do, Mai shifted so that she was floating on her back, Sokka leaning against her and out of the water, and then squeezed hard against his stomach. He vomited up an ugly amount of ugly water.

Ugh. But at least it was done, now.

Floating, treading water, Mai was at a loss for what to do next. At least this wasn't boring, but with the naval battle still going on around them, Iroh's ship nowhere in sight and no one seeming to care much for the people already in the lake, it was altogether likely that she and Sokka would die as soon as she was too exhausted to keep them afloat any longer. And her muscles were already burning. It probably wasn't a good idea to almost drown herself first if she was planning on a long swim.

So she watched. She watched as the Water Tribe vessels fought the Fire Navy warships. She watched as Azula's ship sank into an Earth Kingdom lake. She watched as a cloud high up in the sky moved against the wind, briefly flared with a piercing blue light, and rained a wave of frost out on the entire scene.

* * *

Jin felt Toph's tiny hands clutching frantically at her, and couldn't help but marvel at how the girl who had ripped apart the innards of a Fire Nation warship with her bare hands was now panicked at being in the water. "It's okay," Jin gasped as she swam. She made for the nearest patch of thick ice, and with desperate strength, threw Toph onto it. She tried to pull herself up, but lacked the leverage, and sunk back down in the water. She kicked frantically, she needn't have bothered; a pair of strong hands grabbed hers and pulled her up onto the ice besides Toph.

The wet Earthbender grabbed her again and mumbled, "Can't see..."

That was a fair point, but Jin didn't say so. Best not to panic the girl. Instead, she hugged Toph back and resisted the urge to pet the younger girl in what could have been taken as a condescending manner. Jin looked around for the person who had pulled her from the water and spotted Zuko crawling across the same patch of ice. "Hey, where do you think you're going?"

He turned to look at her. "The Avatar is here."

"Yeah, so?" Jin had already figured that much. Who else could turn the entire lake sprawl where the battle was taking place into an ice-plain?

Zuko shook his head. "I have to go. Back home."

Jin blinked, and moved to let go of Toph, but the younger girl clutched her even harder, so she settled back down and instead shouted, "I thought you said your family wanted to kill you!"

At that, Zuko sighed, and began crawling back to her. Wow, she hadn't expected that to work so easily. Jin smiled as Zuko drew close to her. She shifted to keep one arm around Toph, looked up at him from where she lay, and-

He kissed her full on the mouth.

When it ended, he looked down at her with a completely inappropriate sadness. "Goodbye, Jin." Then he turned around and speed-crawled away across the ice, back into the water. She called for him until he was lost to sight, swimming away.

"I'll miss him, too," Toph whispered. "He smelled like Love and Hotness."

* * *

Mai sat on the deck of the Water Tribe ship and tried to figure out if she felt like an honored guest or a prisoner.

Around her was a mix of people she knew and people she had tried to kill at one point or another. Some of them were even the same. After freezing the lake in patches beneath everyone who was struggling not to drown, the Avatar had joined the battle against the Fire Navy and finished it short order. Waterbending was something that could be fought, but what could even a metal warship do when the water it was sailing on turned into giant spears of ice beneath it? With the fighting done, the Avatar and the Water Tribe ships began picking up survivors. The Fire Nation soldiers, plus one very irate and bruised Long Feng, were being grouped as prisoners on one of the smaller Fire Nation ships that had surrendered and disarmed; Mai supposed they would either be allowed to make for shore once the icetrap melted, or else formally arrested once a prison barge of some kind was sent. Members of the Water Tribe were taken back to their own ships.

Mai had been dragged, still clutching Sokka, onto the ship belonging to their Chief.

The Waterbender, Sokka's sister, had immediately gone to work on him and removed the rest of the water from his lungs, then healed his various injuries. He was up and about now, and hugging everyone on the ship. The Avatar had landed and joined in the celebration, bringing with him on his sky bison a passenger group consisting of Iroh, Ty Lee, the small Earthbender who Sokka always talked about, and an Earth Kingdom girl who Mai didn't recognize.

Mai sat on the deck in a huddle and dripped gloomily.

Iroh sat down next to her, and Ty Lee across from her. The acrobat leaned forward and said, "You okay?"

Mai brushed her damp hair out of her face. "I'm half drowned and stuck on what could very well be an enemy ship. What do you think?"

Ty Lee tapped her chin. "I'm really not sure. I stopped following all of this a long time ago."

Iroh let out a breath that heated the air around them pleasantly. "I think we're with people who are willing to treat us as well as we treat them. When the Avatar found me, I told him that I was looking for Zuko, and he flew me all around the battlefield, searching."

Mai blinked. "Did you find him?"

Iroh shook his head. "Jin and Toph saw him escape. He claimed he was going to the Fire Nation."

Mai planted her face into her hands. "All the trouble I go through to save him, and he throws it away. You know what? Next time he can just fall into Azula's trap for all I care."

"Which raises the question," Iroh said, "of whether _you're _going back to the Fire Nation. You friend Ty Lee, here, has not been seen by any of the Fire Nation soldiers since Azula's ship went down. It would be easy for her to be reported lost. And the last anyone saw of you, Azula left you to the mercies of the Resistance. Both of you are free to make your own choices."

Ty Lee sat up straighter with a smile blossoming on her face. "I can go back to the circus!"

Mai thought about her own situation. "I suppose I can go back to my family, but the thought doesn't thrill me. I could go to the Fire Nation, work for Azula again, but... it turns out that we don't work very well together. That can only end badly."

Iroh eyed her. "You can always go with your friend, Sokka. Join the Avatar's group."

Mai snorted. "And fight the Fire Nation? Fight Zuko and Azula? No, thanks. I don't have to help them, but I don't particularly want to stab them, either. Not unless I get very angry."

Iroh nodded. "There is another option. The Avatar will be leading an Invasion of the Fire Nation, after he frees some of his friends from prisons over in the homeland, and plans to use an eclipse of the sun to make a strike directly at the capital island, at the Fire Lord himself. He was going to be relying on Ba Sing Se's help but..." The old man shrugged. "Though they are free of the Fire Nation now, or will be once they catch the last of the Firebenders in the city, the people of Ba Sing Se have suffered much over the last week. Their strength is reduced, and there is rebuilding to be done. I was thinking of reaching out along my own contacts and seeing what forces I could muster."

"For the Invasion? The same Invasion that Azula knows all about and even has the original plans for," Mai said archly. "You'd probably be better off canceling that one."

Iroh smiled. "Thank you for your concern, but I have a copy of those plans, too. Trust me, it can be very valuable to know what your opponent _expects _you to be doing. And I know the Fire Nation's military very well." He looked up at the sun setting in the distance. "I will need to do quite a bit of traveling to bring together all of my friends, but that won't leave me with much time for the military planning. If only I had someone I could trust, someone who could carry messages, even into the Fire Nation. Traveling can be very dangerous these days, so it would be good if this person were capable of defending herself. The job would be sure to offer plenty of excitement, a chance to improve the world, but no direct conflict with Princes or Princesses or young Water Tribe warriors."

Mai raised her favorite eyebrow. "You're about as subtle as a dragon, you know that?"

He laughed, a hearty chuckle that only old people in stories ever seemed to manage, and said, "Well, dragons can be subtle, in some of the tales."

Ty Lee leaned forward and grinned. "If you want a friend to travel with, I don't have to go back to the circus right away."

Mai stared at her. "You, too?"

Ty Lee shrugged, her grin never leaving her face. "Azula left you, Mai. I'd never do that. Never."

Mai stared down at the puddle she was sitting in, thinking it through. She nearly jumped with surprise when she realized that she was actually _thinking_. Seems that plotting and making executive decisions was habit-forming. And... she kind of liked _thinking_. "I'm going to need an alias," she said. "And more knives. And some proof of your trust that I can show your friends. And good maps. Also, a way to travel in some level of comfort when I'm not being attacked would be nice."

Iroh leaned back and grinned. "We can discuss the details over tea. Why don't we see if our new allies have some?"

* * *

Azula had to stop and rest. She _hated _having to stop and rest. Still, it was better than dying. She floated on the dark sea under the night sky, on a piece of debris that had once been her grand warship. It was one of the few pieces of that vessel still afloat, now.

How had she messed up so _badly?_Mai captured, Ty Lee dead, no Zuko or Uncle to bring home...

Floating there, catching her breath, Azula caught a sound that wasn't the splashing of the waves. It sounded like a burst of Firebending, coming from somewhere behind her. Kicking her feet, she turned herself around, and spotted a lifeboat from off her warship approaching. The Firebending must have been propulsion, then. A loyal servant of the Fire Lord was coming to rescue her.

No, _assist _her.

The ship came right up next to her, and a face leaned over in the moonlight. With a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, Azula realized that it was a scarred face, one she would never fail to recognize. "Zuko."

He stared down at her stoically. "Azula."

She sighed. "So that's it, then. Get it over with. I'm too wet and tired to Firebend. You win. It turns out you were the stronger sibling. I guess Mother chose right after all. Kill me and be on your way. Uncle is probably waiting."

He flinched at that, but she couldn't take any pleasure in it. She normally enjoyed even petty hurts, but only when they came with greater glory and victory. What was one more little jab at Zuko when he held her life in his hands now?

Azula waited for a death that never came.

"Give me your hand," Zuko said, "and I'll pull you into the boat."

She looked up at him sharply. "What trick is this?"

"No trick. I'm going back to the Fire Nation, and I think if you're with me, Father won't have me arrested."

Azula made a show of looking around. "I don't see an Avatar. Or does Uncle have him all tied up for you?"

His face turned stony in the moonlight. "I don't have him. I might never be able to capture him, now. He's more powerful than he ever was before. But I saw what you did in Ba Sing Se, what our nation's soldiers did. You think fighting that way makes you strong, but it doesn't. I've been a fugitive in the Earth Kingdom, been a thief and a refugee, but I was never so successful than when I was fighting as a true warrior against you."

He blinked, and looked down at her with his lopsided visage. "Our nation needs to learn about honor," he said. "And I think it falls to me to teach that. But I can only do that if I go back home and convince Father to accept me."

Azula couldn't believe what she was hearing. Who would listen to _Zuzu_?

Well, maybe she would. He had won, after all, hadn't he? She couldn't even save Mai and Ty Lee, but here Zuko was, saving _her_.

It was almost enough to destroy Azula's mind forever, but she still had her father, and now her brother, and perhaps together they could all win. Azula felt almost drunk with the idea. Might it be worth a shot? "Okay, Zuko," she said. She raised her hands up to him. "Let's try it your way, this time."

Then she let her brother rescue her.

* * *

The next morning, Sokka and Mai stood together on the deck of Iroh's boat. Dad waited on his own vessel nearby, but Aang had taken the rest of the gang back to Ba Sing Se to help with the start of the city's recovery. As soon as Sokka took care of this last little detail, Dad would take him to join them. It would be nice, even if it was just for a little voyage back to Ba Sing Se, to have some time alone with his father.

For now, he was alone with Mai. "So, I guess this is goodbye."

She was still wearing the Water Tribe clothes she had been given to dry off in the night before, and to Sokka's eye looked about as comfortable in them as he expected he'd feel in Fire Nation reds. Of course, Sokka had no doubt that he'd look nice, even in red; he was cursed with good looks like that.

Rolling her eyes, Mai said, "Wow, did you come up with that all by yourself? 'I guess this is goodbye.' That was old when Fire Lord Sozin was a kid was throwing mud at girls."

Sokka shrugged. "Okay, so it was a bad line. You have to expect one or two when you leave other people to do all the heavy lifting in the conversation. Anyway, how about this- thanks for telling me where to find Suki, and _big _thanks saving my life." Mai started to say something, but he cut her off by grabbing her in the biggest, tightest hug he could manage. When he let go, her normally pale face was bright red. "You okay?"

Her lips quirked. "I'm not really a touchy type. But I appreciate the sentiment."

"Fair enough." Shrugging, he added, "So, I'll see you around?"

"If we don't both die."

"Well, yeah, that kind of goes without saying."

She bowed. "Then see you around, Mister Sokka Water Tribe. Thanks for everything."

He bowed back, and left her.

* * *

Under the rising sun, two men rode ostrich horses out of Ba Sing Se's Outer Wall complex and onto the open road. The taller of the two called over to his companion. "And so we begin our new life, ex-Agent Laotao."

"Quite appropriate to do it with a sunrise, ex-Agent Zhuang," the other replied. "Would you like another custard tart?"

"No, thank you, the one I had for breakfast was quite enough. But by all means, don't let me stop you."

"Thank you."

They didn't get far down the road to nowhere when they came upon a pair of teenagers walking in the same direction. It was two boys- the older one wearing a rice hat and a bow and arrow set on his back, and the younger one wearing chest armor and decked out with knives. As the two ex-agents got closer, and the teenagers turned to glance back at them, they could see that the younger one might have actually been a girl, beneath her red face paint on her cheeks.

"Ex-Agent Zhuang?"

"Yes, ex-Agent Laotao?"

"Does something about those two look familiar?"

Zhuang examined them as they approached. "No, I don't think so. Why?"

Laotao shook his head. "Must be my imagination, then. Shall we offer them a ride?"

"Well, that would the polite thing to do. If we're going to be civilians, now, we're going to have to learn to get along with the common folk."

"Well said."

They slowed their ostrich horses beside the pair, and both ex-Agents smiled down at them. Zhuang said, "Care for a lift?"

Laotao added, "Free of charge."

The two teenagers looked up at them.

**END**


	9. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

The war was over, but there was still more work to be done.

Sokka moved through the makeshift camp and tugged his green tunic to fall more naturally on his frame. It was a little small for him, but he had grown taller since the last time he needed a disguise; he'd have to start picking bigger people to steal clothes from. Moving through the crowd of Earth Kingdom protesters, he looked up at the walled city of Yu Dao on the hill above him. So much trouble for a city he had never even heard of during the war. Now, it had the whole world dancing like it had spotted a prickle snake in its sleeping bag, but that was a horrible metaphor because why would a whole world need a sleeping bag?

Shrugging to himself, Sokka let it go. He had more important things to think about, like how to break into the city so that he could figure out what Fire Regent Zuko was doing in there and why the whole deportation thingy was stalled, so that he could get the information to Aang and hopefully avert another war and-

And he bumped into a woman he hadn't even heard approach him.

She caught him gracefully before he could fall, and balanced him back on his feet. His gaze followed her pale hands up along her green and black robes to a pale face and shiny hair.

"Well, hello, Lover," he said with a grin.

An eyebrow he knew all too well arched up at him. "Oh, now I'm 'Lover?' How does Suki feel about that?"

Sokka shrugged. "We went our separate ways. Last I heard, she was actually working for Iroh as a guard. I figure you've probably seen her more recently than me."

She said nothing to that.

Looking up at Yu Dao, Sokka casually put an arm around the young woman's shoulders. "So, _my _mission is to somehow get into that city and get the real deal on the situation. You?"

She made no move to break contact with him. "Same," she said, "more or less. Iroh hasn't heard from Zuko in a while, and wants to know what the moron thinks he's doing."

Sokka nodded agreeably. "Might as well work together, then."

"Might as well."

"Do you have weapons?"

She gave him a look. "What do you think?"

"I think you're probably good." Pulling a _very _well-maintained whalebone knife out of his belt, he held it up to her handle-first. "But one more can't hurt."

Mai took the knife, and tucked it into her robes. "Thanks. So, shall we?"

"Let's 'shall,' Lover."

She snorted at him.

**THE BEGINNING**


End file.
